“Repair really is becoming mainstream.”
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The Restart Project has some good solid news pieces this month:
Apple to make repair easier for consumers – but we have questions
Why our electronics break: what we can learn from 10 years of repairs
Restart Podcast: An epic journey through climate history with Alice Bell
The results of our 2021 Podcast listener survey
Here’s their latest newsletter to round off the year:
As 2021 draws to a close I thought it would be fitting to celebrate what we’ve accomplished together this year. Here are some highlights:
1. Community repair gained new purpose 🎯
As the pandemic forced more of our daily lives online, it brought the digital divide into sharp focus; people without access to devices were left even further behind. So in January, we launched our ‘laptops for lockdown’ campaign.
Thanks to your support, we helped local projects collect, repair and distribute laptops to school children. In the process we realised how important repair is for digital access. So we’ll continue this work next year.
2. Our movement got louder 📣
Repair really is becoming mainstream. International Repair Day saw hundreds of events around the world and we were invited on the BBC every time repair made headlines (which was a lot this year!)
We’re also proud to be teaming up with other community projects across the UK as part of the new Community Repair Network.
3. We learned lots from our repair data 📊
Throughout the year we invited you to embrace your inner scientist and help us explore our rich repair data. And wow did we learn a lot! First we revealed the true environmental impact of our electronics and updated our community platform to let everyone estimate the environmental benefits of repair events.
And with your help, we identified many of the reasons our electronics break in the first place. We’ve already started using our findings to push back against industry lobbyists! 💪
4. The Right to Repair started to become a reality 🛠
This year has seen unprecedented pressure on policymakers around the world to pass Right to Repair laws. Right to Repair measures even came into force in the UK and EU for the first time.
But these laws are far from the universal Right to Repair we need, so we launched a petition to keep up the pressure. We’ll keep playing our part in the UK and in the EU through the European campaign we co-founded.
Bring on 2022
As we look ahead to our 10th year, we’re incredibly proud of how far we’ve come and thankful for your help getting us here. We have big plans for 2022 and I can’t wait to share them with you.
In the meantime, have a wonderful end to the year and see you in January!
– James and the whole Restart Project team
Need repair advice?
Ask the community for repair help by tagging @restartproject on Twitter or Instagram or by posting in our forum. Repairers from across the network are on hand to offer advice and support.