Restart Podcast Ep. 93: A 2023 Restart Retrospective

The Restart Project Podcast

For our final episode of the season, Ugo and Fiona sat down for a chat about the year that was 2023. From launching the Repair and Reuse Declaration to the biggest Repair Day ever to some major wins for Right to Repair across the world. It’s been an amazing year and we couldn’t have done it without our community here in London and further afield.

What has been the progress on Right to Repair?

Gains in Europe

Ugo talks us through the long list of upcoming legislation that is set to be up to bat next year. This includes new rules surrounding smartphones and tablets; consumer rights; and a repairability index for vacuum cleaners. He notes that its going to be a busy year as campaigners try their best to get legislation passed before the elections shake everything up.

How are we learning from this in the UK?

While progress on legislation is slow in the UK, Fiona points a few opportunities in the next year for action. This feels especially possible because of the strength our movement has gained in the UK this year. We’ve spent the year connecting and brainstorming with stakeholders and organisers to develop the Repair and Reuse Declaration which now has over 240 signatories!

Makers Cabinet pose with the declaration on Repair Day

More developments in the US

Our allies in the US have been making major waves this year – especially when it comes to state-specific legislation in California and Minnesota. Ugo also covers some developments backed by our friends at U.S. PIRG. They’ve been facing up to huge names like Google and Microsoft. Despite all this success, we’ve got plenty more to do!

What are we up to locally?

In London, our network continues to grow with new groups popping up all the time. Fiona shares some examples of unique events that have happened this year. We also look back on the Fixing Factory project which we continued to learn from and hope to develop even further.

Our Fixing Factory work in Brent also allowed us to undertake some exciting research. We worked with West London Waste Authority to investigate the e-waste that was brought to a recycling centre. The results were shocking but also inspired us to find solutions.

Our vision for 2024

Fiona and Ugo share their hopes for the future and our work next year. We foresee some ripe opportunities for campaigning in the UK, with the looming general election. Further afield, Ugo is especially excited to see the repair movement grow across the world – with developments already happening in Taiwan, Columbia, and more.

Our community celebrate at Fixfest UK

Links:

• Why Google announced Chromebooks will last for 10 years
• Microsoft offers extended Windows 10 support, with added cost
• What happened on Repair Day 2023?
• The Repair and Reuse Declaration
• What a waste: our study shows almost half of electricals sent for recycling could be reused
• Open repair reaches a major milestone: over 100,000 records of repair
• We won the European Union Prize for Citizen Science—Digital Communities Award!
• Discover the Community Repair Network
• Read about what happened at Fixfest UK 2023

[Feature image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0]

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