People enjoy watching and learning
Sally Jenkins learns about the project that brings communities together while mending broken devices.
FAULTY laptops, old smartphones and broken household gadgets have become throwaway items in our society; we can’t fix them, and it’s difficult or expensive to get a professional repair.
This situation frustrated Janet Gunter and her friend Ugo Vallauri.
“I’d worked with people in Asia, Latin America and Africa who made the most of everything they had, carefully maintaining their equipment,” Janet explains.
“Then I would return home and see the same people who refused plastic bags at the farmers’ market upgrading their mobile phones every nine months.”
Ten years ago the pair created the Restart Project and held their first Restart Party in a Hampstead pub.
The aim was to link volunteer repairers with people with broken devices.
“To our surprise, about twenty people came, including some very skilled volunteers,” Janet says.
Participants get involved by narrating the history of the device or appliance and how it failed. They might help to disassemble it.
“More complex repairs are undertaken by our volunteers without help from participants.
“Even then, people enjoy watching and learning.
“Some of our volunteers are qualified engineers and some are self-taught but they all learn from each other,” Janet explains.
Cash donations at the parties are welcomed, but are optional because Janet and Ugo want everyone to be able to access repairs.
Any money received goes towards tools, refreshments and expendable items.
Each event has a social atmosphere and people are encouraged to have a cup of tea with someone they might not ordinarily meet.
“The social connection is one of the most important benefits of the parties,” Janet explains, “along with spreading the culture for repair.”
The front of house host meets each guest on arrival and matches the device and its owner with a volunteer.
The guest and volunteer work together to diagnose the problem.
Over half of the devices will be fixed on the spot.
Restart Parties don’t accept microwave ovens or high-powered items for safety reasons.
PAT testing is carried out on every mains device before it leaves the event.
Unfortunately, some things can’t be fixed.
This may be because they are not designed to be repaired, there is a lack information on how to fix them or the spare parts are not available.
The project helped launch the European Right to Repair campaign in 2019.
It aims to change regulations on how things are made, to make them easy and cheap to repair.
This is a good economic and environmental choice.
“E-waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream,” Janet says.
“It’s toxic and full of resources that are difficult to mine.” ■
To find a Restart Party, visit therestartproject.org/parties.
If you’re interested in sharing your repair skills with others or starting a group of your own, visit restarters.net.