{"id":7045,"date":"2018-05-13T10:33:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T10:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/?page_id=7045"},"modified":"2018-07-06T12:33:49","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T12:33:49","slug":"repair-cafes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/issues\/issue-12-makerspaces-and-institutions\/practitioner-reflections\/repair-cafes\/","title":{"rendered":"Repair Cafes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>by Martin Charter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/jopp_issue12_charter.pdf\">Open as PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Over the last thirty years different perspectives on waste have been seen around the world by the author. Back in the late 1990s in Zimbabwe, a crashed car was scavenged for materials in hours for re-use and in Japan, in the mid 2000s there was a visit to five of 50 electronics recycling factories that had been launched the day the country\u2019s waste electronics legislation came into place. Closer to home, an increasingly number of \u201cend of life\u201d phones, laptops and printers are being stored in my and other people\u2019s lofts and garages. In a recent capacity building project with five re-use social enterprises in Hampshire in the UK, many products were observed that had been designed \u2013 deliberately or not &#8211; <em>not<\/em> to be easy to disassemble, and fix or repair. Companies can design products to be easier to be disassembled and repaired to enable extended product life but they are generally not doing so at present.<\/p>\n<p>Between 1995-2016, the author\u2019s team at The Centre for Sustainable Design \u00ae at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) organised twenty-one Sustainable Innovation conferences; this enabled an annual \u201crain check\u201d on trends and developments in sustainable innovation and design. Over the last few years, an increasing number of examples of grassroots, social, circular innovation have emerged in presentations at the events. These initiatives have been driven by, for example: the increased availability of online videos, information and fora focused on \u2018making, modifying and fixing\u2019 products; increased sharing and collaboration of ideas and information; new \u201cplaces and spaces\u201d being set up to enable citizens to make, modify and fix products; use of new forms of funding e.g. crowdfunding to\u00a0 kick start initiatives; the emergence of new tools (e.g. 3D printing); and growing interest in thinking globally but acting locally.<\/p>\n<p>Repair Caf\u00e9s have emerged as citizen-driven initiatives to enable the fixing (or repair) of products at a community level. Repair Caf\u00e9s are part of broader movement of \u2018Makers, Modifiers and Fixers\u2019 where individuals and groups of individuals that are \u2018making, modifying and fixing\u2019 products are coming together in physical places and spaces that include Hackerspaces, Makerspaces, Fab Labs and Tech Shops.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fixer Movement<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The \u2018Fixer Movement\u2019 is being empowered by online platforms, social enterprises and community-based organisations (Charter &amp; Keiller, 2014). This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Online fixing sites: For example, IFixit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifixit.com\">ifixit.com<\/a> an innovative WIKI based website that provides free online repair guides, solutions and \u2018how to\u2019 videos for a wide range of consumer electronics and other products, including clothing.<\/li>\n<li>Social Enterprises: For example, The Restart Project <a href=\"http:\/\/www.restartproject.org\">restartproject.org<\/a> ; a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills, through Restart events in communities and with companies in the UK.<\/li>\n<li>Repair Caf\u00e9s: \u201cRepair Caf\u00e9s are free \u2018community-centred workshops\u2019 for people to bring consumer products in need of repair where they can work together with volunteer fixers, to repair and maintain their broken or faulty products. In addition to repair, many Repair Caf\u00e9s provide assistance with product modification, particularly to clothing to improve fit and appearance\u201d Charter &amp; Keiller, 2016 (The Repair Cafe WIKI)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Repair Cafes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>My personal journey into the world of repair cafes started at the Hannover Fair in Germany in 2014, with an inspiring presentation by Martine Postma, the founder of the then Repair Caf\u00e9 International Foundation (RICF). It highlighted that there had been no primary research into the activities of repair cafes and so the author approached Martine to collaborate on a survey to understand what was going on worldwide. An online survey was then completed by The Centre for Sustainable Design \u00ae (CfSD) at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) with RCIF (Charter &amp; Keiller, 2014). Key findings based on 158 respondents included that the motivations for volunteers in engaging with repair cafes were both social and environmental including giving \u201csomething back to community\u201d and \u201cfeeling involved with others\u201d, alongside helping repair broken stuff. A conference was then organised to disseminate the findings which generated a lot of interest. As a result the author decided to translate the results of the survey into action and opened dialogue with a local Farnham-based NGO &#8211; Transition Town Farnham &#8211; to collaborate on the development and delivery of Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9 (FRC) as a university-community project and \u201cliving laboratory\u201d focused on local social and circular economy activities.<\/p>\n<p>The Repair Caf\u00e9 Foundation (now Repair Cafe International Foundation (RCIF)), was founded by an ex-journalist Martine Postma in the Netherlands in 2011 to enable people to come together to provide a free service to their community to help repair and therefore, to extend the life of products that would otherwise end up as waste. RCIF has 1,562 Repair Caf\u00e9s in 35 countries registered on their website (Repair Cafe International, 2018); however, there are indications that there are also a significant number of other Repair Caf\u00e9s and other community repair workshops that are not on the RCI website.<\/p>\n<p>A second worldwide survey of Repair Cafes was completed in 2016 by CfSD at UCA with RCIF (Charter &amp; Keiller, 2016b) produced a range of other interesting findings based on 317 respondents:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Start-up phase: 72% of Repair Caf\u00e9s had operated for two years or less compared with 95% in the 2014 survey.<\/li>\n<li>Citizen-driven: 46% of Repair Caf\u00e9s were founded by an informal group of motivated individuals and 44% by a single motivated individual.<\/li>\n<li>High repair rates: 63% of products brought to Repair Caf\u00e9s sessions were repaired<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-charter.jpg\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-7366 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-charter-1024x689.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-charter-1024x689.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-charter-300x202.jpg 300w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-charter-768x516.jpg 768w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-charter.jpg 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Figure 1: Global Repair Caf\u00e9 Survey, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9 (FRC): Case Study<\/h2>\n<p>After an initial innovation workshop, two pilot sessions were organised to test and learn about the logistics of operating a Repair Caf\u00e9. FRC was launched in February 2015 and in April 2017 became a charity (Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9, 2018a). FRC is based at a fixed venue &#8211; United Reformed Church in Farnham &#8211; and as at March 2018 has held thirty-six, 2.5 hour sessions. Repair stations are organised for a range of consumer products e.g. electronics, mechanicals, bicycles, clothing, furniture and creative (upcycling). Volunteer repairers bring their own tools and equipment, and a number of repairs are finally completed by volunteers at \u2018home workshops\u2019. The FRC management team have developed methodologies to collect data to measure the impact of activities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-Farnham-Repair-Cafe.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-7367 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-Farnham-Repair-Cafe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-Farnham-Repair-Cafe.jpg 640w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-1-Farnham-Repair-Cafe-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fig 2. Farnham Repair Cafe\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Getting involved and taking forward FRC as community repair project has been both rewarding and challenging particularly in moving FRC to be the UK\u2019s first repair caf\u00e9 charity.<\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"50%\">Visitors to FRC<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"50%\">1571<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">Repairs completed<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">553<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">Repair rate<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">63%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">Landfill diversion<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">1.8 tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">CO2 reduction<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">15.0 tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">Satisfaction<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">98%*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">Citizen savings<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">\u00a340,827**<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h6>*\u00a0Exit survey of visitor satisfaction of FRC service<br \/>\n**As result of repairs completed, cost saved from not having to buy a new product<\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Table 1. Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9: Results to date (April 2018)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Below are a range of reflections and lessons learnt by the author based on three research surveys (Charter &amp; Keiller 2014, Charter &amp; Keiller 2016b,c) and experience from organising thirty-six FRC sessions.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Growing interest<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The number of Repair Cafes in the UK has roughly doubled to 58 during 2017-18; and has increased to 1562 worldwide (Repair Cafe International, 2018). FRC has seen growth in interest and attendance since launch.<\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>Number<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>Visitors<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>No. of Products &#8211; Booked in<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>No. of Successful Repairs<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>% of Successful Repairs<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>Landfill diversion (kg)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>CO2 reduction (kg) <\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\" width=\"15%\"><strong>Satisfaction (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">2015<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">10<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">403<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">159<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">98<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">61%<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">369<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">3068<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">N\/A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">2016<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">11<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">395<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">197<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">126<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">63%<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">352<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">2929<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">97%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">2017<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">10<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">524<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">344<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">218<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">64%<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">646<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">5376<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">98%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">2018<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">5<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">249<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">185<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">111<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">62%<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">438<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">3649<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">99%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">Total<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">36<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">1571<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">885<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">553<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">63%<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">1804<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">15022<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1.00pt solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;\">98%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Table 2. FRC Analysis as at April 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>FRC actively promotes the impact of its monthly sessions through social media and has been featured on national and local radio, Brazilian television and local press. Awareness of FRC is beyond the local community and it has been consulted by a new repair cafe start-up in Northern Ireland and visited by others from Surrey, Hampshire and Essex; FRC sees supporting the set-up of other repair cafes as part of its wider mission.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-Vacuum-Cleaner-Repair.jpg\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-7368 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-Vacuum-Cleaner-Repair-1024x685.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-Vacuum-Cleaner-Repair.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-Vacuum-Cleaner-Repair-300x201.jpg 300w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-Vacuum-Cleaner-Repair-768x514.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fig 2. Vacuum cleaner repair\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Audience<\/h2>\n<p>The average age of visitors (product owners) to FRC is 53, with 86% of respondents aged over 45 (Charter &amp; Keiller, 2016c); the on-going challenge is to attract younger people and younger families who perhaps tend to buy new stuff rather than get it repaired. There has been a very positive reaction to FRC &#8211; &#8220;what a great idea&#8221;, &#8220;I really don&#8217;t like to throw things away&#8221; \u2013 especially amongst older visitors. FRC has a 98% customer satisfaction rate since monitoring started in June 2016 and has only faced two problematic customer cases that both arose partially as a result of failure in administrative systems that led to changes. Many visitors don\u2019t have the skills to fix products and a number of older visitors have lost the dexterity to sew, for example. Talks at local events and feedback at FRC sessions has reinforced the existence of a segment of more advanced, citizen repairers that are fixing products by using online videos, fora and information with some using FRC for a 2nd opinion when they cannot repair a product. Research amongst FRC visitors has also identified that over 60% of visitors (and volunteers) stated that attending FRC had made them more or much more likely to attempt to repair their own products (Charter &amp; Keiller, 2016c). This finding reinforces the FRC philosophy that is exemplified by the twitter hastag #sharerepair e.g. the desire by FRC that visitors physically observe the repair process and learn.<\/p>\n<h2>What visitors say about FRC<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere is a wealth of experience, knowledge and goodwill in the team, and patience in dealing with the variety of issues brought in!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow wonderful to have something repaired, and to not need to buy a new hairdryer. Very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat brilliant, supportive people live in our community! How to check to see if hoover belt is broken. Thank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t throw anything away as it may be repaired \u2013 quickly too at the Caf\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow skilful repairers are, how confident, how generous with time and expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c10\/10 for dogged persistence to repair a tricky fault in my iron. Thank you! Keep up the good work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Volunteers<\/h2>\n<p>FRC experience is that there are amazing repair skills that are just sitting in the community. There are an estimated 72 repairers and other volunteers who have attended at least one session with a core group of around 20-25 who regularly attend sessions. FRC repairers are essentially problem-solvers with many being &#8220;owner-completers&#8221; who like to solve\/complete repairs even if they cannot be completed within 2.5-3 hour sessions. A small number of dedicated repairers will often take jobs back to their home workshops, then attempt fixes and return products to owners direct \u2013 fixed or unfixed. Several repairs have gone beyond logical fault diagnosis and fixing, with repairers having developed creative solutions resulting from lateral thinking (Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9, 2018b). Repairers at FRC are happy to bring their own tools as there is a lack of appropriate facilities at the venue which makes storage of tools, parts and components impractical. Replacement parts and\/or components that are identified by repairers during the repair process are purchased online by visitors and brought for fixing at the following session.<\/p>\n<h2>Local community<\/h2>\n<p>Repair is the key mission of Repair Cafes but it has become clear that there is a social role in helping to provide a friendly place that contributes to a sense of community. In addition, there are local economic benefits. FRC has saved Farnham citizens an estimated \u00a340,827 through repairs &#8211; meaning that new products do not have to be bought. FRC has worked closely with local stakeholders throughout its development: United Reformed Church provide a hall for FRC and repairers and visitors use URC&#8217;s adjacent Spire Caf\u00e9 for teas and coffees; Farnham Town Council has been consistently positive about FRC and, for example, allowed FRC to temporarily piggy-back on its insurance policy whilst it was in transition towards a charity; University for the Creative (UCA) provided legal advice via its solicitors in relation to the charity submission and donated a PAT tester. The connection between CfSD at UCA has been integral to development and has provided administrative support, statistical analysis and ad hoc research. Reports have been uploaded to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfsd.org.uk\/research\">www.cfsd.org.uk\/research<\/a> to provide wider access, presentations have been given, articles written and two chapters have been completed on Repair Cafes and FRC for an upcoming book (Charter, 2018).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-charter.png\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-7369 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-charter.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-charter.png 812w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-charter-300x194.png 300w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-2-charter-768x497.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Figure 3.\u00a0Strengths of Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9, Charter &amp; Keiller, 2016c\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Products<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There are a wide range of products that have been booked in and fixed over 36 sessions, from a reel-to-reel tape machine to a Japanese doll to toys and vacuum cleaners. Electronics is always the most busy work station, and is a &#8220;hive of activity&#8221; with the highest proportion of repairers. Unpublished research by a FRC trustee based on 261 repairs between 14th February 2015 to 9th July 2016 provided some interesting data.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Clothing is the most common product needing repair<\/li>\n<li>4 failure types account for nearly 50% of all repairs<\/li>\n<li>It costs less than \u00a31 in new parts to successfully repair over 70% of products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The top five products needing repair were: clothing (12%); lighting (7%); portable radio\/CD players; sewing machines; and bicycles. The top five product failures were: worn or torn (14%); poor maintenance\/adjustment (12%); broken\/cracked parts (11%); electronic parts at component level (11%); and internal or external wiring failures \u2013 excluding power cords (7%).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-3-Clothing-Repair.jpg\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-7370 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-3-Clothing-Repair-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-3-Clothing-Repair-1024x678.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-3-Clothing-Repair-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-3-Clothing-Repair-768x509.jpg 768w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-3-Clothing-Repair.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fig 3. Clothing repair<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the time of the analysis, FRC had an impressive repair rate of 82% leaving FRC successfully or partially repaired:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>63% Successfully completed repairs of<\/li>\n<li>19% Partially completed repairs<\/li>\n<li>5% Not completed but advice given<\/li>\n<li>12% Unsuccessful<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Over 36 sessions, the FRC repair rate is 63%, which is in line with the global average of 63% (Charter &amp; Keiller, 2016b). FRC repair rate is still intuitively very high given that there is only 2.5 &#8211; 3 hours to repair products per session, and a small group that complete repairs at home workshops.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-4-Toaster-Diagnosis-3.gif\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-7372 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-4-Toaster-Diagnosis-3-1024x1008.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-4-Toaster-Diagnosis-3-1024x1008.gif 1024w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-4-Toaster-Diagnosis-3-300x295.gif 300w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-4-Toaster-Diagnosis-3-768x756.gif 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fig 4. Toaster Diagnosis\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Organisation<\/h2>\n<p>Although FRC is a charity, it is run in a business-like manner, with all trustees having been senior managers or directors of companies. There has been strong commitment and motivation by all key stakeholders related FRC particularly the trustees and repairers. A full set of promotional tools have been used to attract repairers and visitors (product owners) to FRC including local press, local radio, e-marketing, Facebook, Twitter, leaflets, presentations to local groups, local social networks and a webpage <a href=\"http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/events\/farnham_repair_cafe\/\">http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/events\/farnham_repair_cafe\/<\/a>. Minimisation of risk is a key issue for FRC and it has a health and safety policy, and public liability and products liability insurance in place. Research completed by FRC indicated that few insurance companies or brokers understood Repair Cafes and the actual risks associated with products fixed at Repair Caf\u00e9s; with the biggest concerns being electrical and electronics products. FRC\u2019s venue is the United Reformed Church (URC) which is a central location in the town; other venues were considered but were rejected as URC is an excellent location with nearby car parking facilities.<\/p>\n<h2>Development<\/h2>\n<p>FRC was originally set up as a collaborative project (without legal status) by CfSD at UCA and Transition Town Farnham (TTF). Several early UK based Repair Cafes had been set up as projects within Transition Towns (Transition Towns, 2018). The difference compared to other similar situations in the UK was that FRC was set-up as collaboration between CfSD at UCA and TTF, and not set-up directly by TTF and therefore TTF did not, metaphorically, own it. The arrangement was useful in the start-up phase of FRC as TTF provided access to its bank account to deposit donations and small grants, and make payments, and the relationship also enabled FRC to be incorporated into TTF\u2019s existing insurance policy. However, the relationship became more challenging over time due to differing perspectives from the individuals involved, differences in vision, gaps in practical experience between the collaborators, and differing commitments. A key lesson learnt is to always thoroughly understand who you are &#8220;getting to bed with&#8221; before you formalise collaborations to ensure that all key stakeholders involved in the development and organisation of a Repair Caf\u00e9 have the same vision, motivations and expectations.<\/p>\n<p>In Q4 2016, it was decided by the FRC core team that it should apply to register as a charity to gain legal status. The application process was quite challenging, as was untangling activities from TTF. The registration was submitted in January 2017 and after various rounds of comments with the Charity Commission, charity status was granted on 18th April 2017. FRC has also helped spawn other initiatives and research. As a result of connections made through a separate repair project in Hampshire that CfSD had partnered in, one of the FRC trustees now leads a Men&#8217;s Shed (Men\u2019s Sheds, 2018) at the Furniture Helpline (Furniture Helpline, 2018) in Bordon. Another trustee is completing a postgraduate degree in sustainable development at the University of Surrey with his thesis focused on CO2 impacts of repair cafes in the UK. Also additional research amongst FRC visitors was completed by the Open University that was presented as a research paper at a conference (Dewberry et al, 2016). FRC is presently considering the development of additional added-value services for the local community, and increased dissemination its experience and understanding.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-5-Tape-Recorder-Fixed-e1529927736936.jpg\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-7371 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-5-Tape-Recorder-Fixed-e1529927736936-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-5-Tape-Recorder-Fixed-e1529927736936-576x1024.jpg 576w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-5-Tape-Recorder-Fixed-e1529927736936-169x300.jpg 169w, http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Figure-5-Tape-Recorder-Fixed-e1529927736936-768x1365.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fig 5. A tape recorder is fixed<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Ten lessons for Repair Caf\u00e9 start-ups<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Establish a clear vision: short, medium and long-term<\/li>\n<li>Ensure there is a person who is prepared to lead, coordinate and plan activities<\/li>\n<li>Recruit a steering board drawn from repairers and other local citizens with business experience<\/li>\n<li>Establish clear financial and marketing plans<\/li>\n<li>Identify a central location with good access for visitors (product owners) and repairers<\/li>\n<li>Ensure you have a legal structure for insurance and banking purposes<\/li>\n<li>Use a range of communication tools to attract repairers and visitors<\/li>\n<li>Develop a positive and friendly community-oriented atmosphere<\/li>\n<li>Monitor the environmental, social and economic impact of repair activities<\/li>\n<li>Develop good relationships with key local stakeholders (local council, university, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Endnote<\/h2>\n<p>Experience from Repair Cafes is illustrating that a significant number of products are not designed for disassembly and reparability. There is growing discussion over whether this is as a result of built-in product obsolescence arising from bad design and\/or deliberate strategies. Transitioning towards the Circular Economy (CE) at a \u2018product level\u2019 or product circularly will mean that there will need to be increased focus on the use or re-use stage of the lifecycle rather end-of-life. It will be about proactively building into the design and development phase of products-services, strategies to enable maintenance, repair, refurbishment, reconditioning, upgrading, remanufacturing, parts harvesting and finally recycling. In CE terms, recycling should be thought of, as much further down the line, than in traditional lifecycle thinking. Implementing product circularity should lead to an extended lifecycle perspective where products, components and materials are kept in the system to the highest value over the longest time period. However, a key issue is not to lose the lifecycle perspective and to become myopic e.g. trade-offs with other environmental aspects need to be considered. CE does not operate in a vacuum, and is not a panacea (Charter, 2018).<\/p>\n<h2>Note<\/h2>\n<p>Martin Charter also created a poem based on his repair caf\u00e9 experiences, which was performed at the Tate Modern in October 2017, and is available in two online formats (Charter 2017a, Charter 2017b, Charter 2017c).<\/p>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n<p>Charter M, 2018. Designing for the Circular Economy. Routledge. London: UK<\/p>\n<p>Charter M. , 12th-15th October\u00a02017a. Sounds of a repair cafe. [Public performance of poem at exhibition] London: Space Gather Make @ Art: Work:\u00a0Tate Modern Online:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/whats-on\/tate-modern\/tate-exchange\/workshop\/artwo\">http:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/whats-on\/tate-modern\/tate-exchange\/workshop\/artwo<\/a>rk\u00a0[Accessed: 10th May 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Charter M, 2017b. Sounds of a repair cafe. [Audio piece: shared machine sound] London Online:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/spacegathermake.tumblr.com\/audio\">https:\/\/spacegathermake.tumblr.com\/audio<\/a>\u00a0[Accessed: 10th May 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Charter M., 2017c.\u00a0Sounds of a repair cafe. [Poem]. Farnham: Farnham Repair Cafe Online:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCkzO-v8mM-TeEf_dFqV5pCw\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCkzO-v8mM-TeEf_dFqV5pCw<\/a>\u00a0[Accessed: 10th May 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Charter, M. and Keiller, S, 2014. Grassroots Innovation and the Circular Economy: A Global Survey of Repair Caf\u00e9s and Hackerspaces. Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/site-pdfs\/circular-economy-and-grassroots-innovation\/Survey-of-Repair-Cafes-and-Hackerspaces.pdf\">http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/site-pdfs\/circular-economy-and-grassroots-innovation\/Survey-of-Repair-Cafes-and-Hackerspaces.pdf<\/a> [Accessed: 4th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Charter, M. &amp; Keiller, S, 2016a. The Repair Caf\u00e9 WIKI. Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/repaircafe.shoutwiki.com\/wiki\/Main_Pag\">http:\/\/repaircafe.shoutwiki.com\/wiki\/Main_Pag<\/a>e [Accessed: 4th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Charter, M. &amp; Keiller, S., 2016b. The Second Global Survey of Repair Caf\u00e9s: A Summary of Findings Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/site-pdfs\/The%20Second%20Global%20Survey%20of%20Repair%20Cafes%20-%20A%20Summary%20of%20Findings.pdf\">http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/site-pdfs\/The%20Second%20Global%20Survey%20of%20Repair%20Cafes%20-%20A%20Summary%20of%20Findings.pdf<\/a> [Accessed: 4th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Charter, M &amp; Keiller, S, 2016c. Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9: Survey of Visitors &amp; Volunteers. Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/site-pdfs\/Farnham%20Repair%20Cafe%20Survey%202016.pdf\">http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/site-pdfs\/Farnham%20Repair%20Cafe%20Survey%202016.pdf<\/a> [Accessed: 5th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Dewberry E, et al. 2016. A Landscape of Repair. Sustainable Innovation 2016. Epsom: UK<\/p>\n<p>Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9, 2018a. Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/events\/farnham_repair_cafe\/\">http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/events\/farnham_repair_cafe\/<\/a> [Accessed: 4th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9, 2018b. Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9: Case Studies. Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/events\/farnham_repair_cafe\/\">http:\/\/cfsd.org.uk\/events\/farnham_repair_cafe\/<\/a> [Accessed: 4th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Furniture Helpline, 2018. Online: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furniturehelpline.co.uk\/about\/what-we-do\/\">https:\/\/www.furniturehelpline.co.uk\/about\/what-we-do\/<\/a> [Accessed: 6th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Men\u2019s Sheds, 2018. Online: <a href=\"https:\/\/menssheds.org.uk\/\">https:\/\/menssheds.org.uk\/<\/a> [Accessed: 6th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Repair Caf\u00e9 Foundation, 2015. Joint Mission statement. Online: <a href=\"http:\/\/repaircafe.org\/wpcontent\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Mission_Statement_Reparability_and_Durability_of_Products.pdf\">http:\/\/repaircafe.org\/wpcontent\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Mission_Statement_Reparability_and_Durability_of_Products.pdf<\/a> [Accessed: 4th March 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Repair Cafe International, 2018. Online: <a href=\"https:\/\/repaircafe.org\/en\/visit\">https:\/\/repaircafe.org\/en\/visit<\/a>\/ [Accessed: 10th May 2018]<\/p>\n<p>Transition Towns, 2018. Online:<a href=\"https:\/\/transitionnetwork.org\/\"> https:\/\/transitionnetwork.org\/<\/a> [Accessed: 10th May 2018]<\/p>\n<h2>about the author<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW209036467\" lang=\"EN-GB\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW209036467\"><strong>Professor Martin Charter<\/strong> MBA FRSA has worked as a manager, researcher and trainer on sustainable innovation and product sustainability for 30 years in academia, business and consultancy. He is the founding Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design \u00ae at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and Senior Associate, Business School for the Creative Industries at University for the Creative Arts (UCA). He is the author\/co-author of Greener Marketing 1 &amp; 2, Sustainable Solutions, System Innovation for Sustainability, Eco-innovate and Designing for the Circular Economy (<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW209036467\" lang=\"EN-GB\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW209036467\">July\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW209036467\" lang=\"EN-GB\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW209036467\">2018). Martin is the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Farnham Repair Caf\u00e9, and a regular speaker in conferences worldwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW209036467\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Martin Charter Open as PDF Background Over the last thirty years different perspectives on waste have been seen around the world by the author. Back in the late 1990s in Zimbabwe, a crashed car was scavenged for materials in hours for re-use and in Japan, in the mid 2000s<\/p>\n<p class=\"top10\"><a href=\"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/issues\/issue-12-makerspaces-and-institutions\/practitioner-reflections\/repair-cafes\/\" class=\"link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":7042,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_full_width.php","meta":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7045"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7045"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7782,"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7045\/revisions\/7782"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peerproduction.net\/editsuite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}