THE BIG REPAIR PROJECT

Wed 26 Jan 2022, 20:55 (last edited on Wed 26 Jan 2022, 21:08)

Last year Prof Mark Miodownik, head of the Institute of Making at UCL made a series for BBC Radio 4 called Dare to Repair, looking at the vanishing art and practice of repairing our old and malfunctioning consumer devices, rather than binning them and buying new ones as most of us do these days.

At the end of 2021 Mark, together with representatives from manufacturers, consumers, and other groups, took part in a round-table meeting to discuss possible challenges and measures to increase the so-called Right to Repair, towards building a circular economy in the UK for recycling plastic and metals. In this week's show he launches a new citizen science project aimed at gathering granular data on UK citizens views and practices when it comes to "disposable" electronic devices. To take part in The Big Repair Project, to record successes and failures, even to share how impossible it can be sometimes to change a battery, follow the link on the BBC Inside Science

 homepage.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013hjr

25 minutes 55 seconds into the programme puts you right at the start of the article.

https://www.bigrepairproject.org.uk

Is the BIG REPAIR PROJECT homepage.

Take part in the Big Repair Project!

The UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub would like your help to better understand the factors affecting household maintenance and repair (carried out yourself or using professional services) of home appliances and electronics across the UK. Your participation will help develop 'Right to Repair' policy and support the UK towards meeting important environmental targets.

The first part of the project is a short survey about your opinion and behaviour towards maintenance and repair of home appliances and electronics. See Participant Information for details. The second part is an optional Logbook to share a few details about your maintenance and repair experiences. See Logbook Guidelines for details.

#bigrepairproject

About The Project

We would like your help to better understand household issues with the maintenance and repair of home appliances and electronics in the UK. This will help develop ‘Right to Repair’ government policy and support the UK towards meeting important environmental targets.

Taking part

The first part of the project is a short survey about your opinion and behaviour towards the maintenance and repair of home appliances and electronics. The second part is an optional Logbook to share a few details about your maintenance and repair experiences. By taking part in the project, you will help us gather real life information about what impacts your motivation and ability to carry out maintenance and repair, including environmental impacts of WEEE waste, climate change and economics. Participant responses will be shared anonymously via our UK Gadget Map, Gadget Gallery and open access reports.

The team

The Big Repair Project was designed by the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, the website was developed by Ten4. This is one of several research initiatives from the UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals (launched 2021), a new research centre to help the UK fully recycle and reuse its metals. The centre is led by Brunel University London, in partnership with University of Warwick and UCL.

Right To Repair

The amount of waste electrical and electronics equipment (WEEE) is rising globally, largely due to a lack of regulation and the disposability and designed obsolescence of electronic products that are difficult or impossible to repair.

Every year an estimated 2 million tonnes of WEEE items are discarded in the UK. This waste consists of home appliances and electronics which contain a range of important and precious materials such as metal, glass, plastic, and a range of other rare metals. Repairing extends the use-life of products and is an important part of net zero strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce environmental pollution. For more information listen to this three part BBC podcast called Dare to Repair.

For products to be repairable they must be designed for repairability: spare parts and professional repair services need to be affordable, and the information needed to carry out repair must be accessible. The UK’s ‘Right to Repair’ law was introduced in July 2021 with the aim of extending the life of a range of electronics and appliances by up to ten years. The law also legally requires manufacturers to make spare parts available to citizens and third-party repair companies. Currently the law only covers dishwashers, washing machines, washer-dryers, refrigeration appliances as well as televisions and electronic displays.

Our research aims to investigate how well this law achieves its aim of increasing the lifespan of household appliances and electronics and reducing WEEE. The information you share with us will provide useful data to help develop Right to Repair policy and regulations in the UK.

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This is inspiring stuff!