Thrifty Croydon residents will be able to resurrect their broken electrical items at a free ‘Restart’ workshop this week.
The Restart Project has teamed up with Recycle for London to give people the opportunity to save money and reduce the impact of electrical waste on the environment.
The Croydon workshop will be held at Bernard Weatherill House and aims to help educate people against the disposable culture in the UK.
Volunteers will be on hand to assist residents fix broken and un-used electrical items, such as laptops, printers, lamps and kettles.
They aim to address the fact that people tend to replace faulty products rather than attempt to fix them for a fraction of the cost.
Research suggests that only 13% of people will repair a broken laptop, despite personal electrical items being the most likely to need maintenance.
The data collected shows that 76% of people who experienced a breakage and didn’t attempt to repair it did so because they either thought it wouldn’t be cost-effective or felt it was time for an upgrade.
The ‘Restart’ workshops are trying to eradicate this mentality and show that with minimal training, every day items such as mobile phones and kettles can easily be brought back to life.
Ali Moore, campaign manager at Recycle for London, said: “The ‘Restart’ workshops provide a great way for local residents to bring electrical items back to life for free, and will also help reduce waste in London.
“Many electrical items remain unused and unloved once they stop working, sat at the back of a cupboard or drawer gathering dust.
“We want to give people the skills and confidence they need to repair their electrical items in the future, saving them money and helping protect the environment.”
The workshop in Croydon will run from 6-9pm.
The upcoming Restart workshops will be held at the following locations:
– Croydon: Wednesday, October 26 https://therestartproject.org/parties/bernard-weatherill-house-8-mint-walk-croydon/
– Waltham Forest: Saturday, October 29 https://therestartproject.org/parties/1-priory-ct-walthamstow-london-e17-5nb/
– Newham: Wednesday, November 2 https://therestartproject.org/parties/canning-town-library-barking-road-canning-town-london-e16-4hq/
– Westminster: Saturday, November 5 https://therestartproject.org/parties/abbey-centre-34-great-smith-street-london-sw1p-3bu/
– Sutton: Wednesday, November 9 https://therestartproject.org/parties/sutton-central-library-st-nicholas-way-sutton-sm1-1ea/
– Wandsworth: Saturday, November 12 https://therestartproject.org/parties/mushkil-aasaan-222-upper-tooting-road-london-sw17-7ew/
– Havering: Wednesday, November 16 https://therestartproject.org/parties/romford-baptist-church-main-road-romford-rm1-3bl/
– Merton: Saturday 19th November https://therestartproject.org/parties/tbc/
– Greenwich: Wednesday 23rd November https://therestartproject.org/parties/greenwich-restart-party-the-barnfield-hub-herbert-place-se18-3bd/
– City: Saturday 26th November https://therestartproject.org/parties/golden-lane-community-centre-fann-street-london-ec1y-0rn/
More details about the event and a list of the other workshops taking place can be found at therestartproject.org.
