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Business Daily

The 'right to repair' movement

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4796 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With the cost of living crisis forcing many of us to try and limit what we spend, more and more people are looking to repair the things they own. It’s giving momentum to an international network of ‘repair cafes’ and a global campaign for manufacturers to make products fixable.

In this episode, we hear from World Service listeners about their do-it-yourself repairs - some more successful than others.

Laura Heighton-Ginns visits a bustling repair cafe, where all sorts of household and sentimental items are given new life, including Rosebud, a doll who was first played with 70 years ago.

Laura also speaks to Ugo Vallauri, co-director of the international Restart Project, about the need for durability to be built back into product design.

Presenter/producer: Laura Heighton-Ginns

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant on the east coast of Japan was struck by a tsunami.

0:07.5

It triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster since Shinobo.

0:11.3

We are in a nuclear emergency.

0:14.0

Fukushima, a new audio drama series from the BBC World Service, tells the story of how the disaster unfolded and of those living with

0:22.2

its aftermath. The radiation is here. It's everywhere. Search for Fukushima wherever you get your BBC

0:28.4

podcasts. When something you own stops working or breaks in some way, what lengths would you go to to fix it, if any?

0:43.4

There's a growing movement globally towards the right to repair, enabling consumers to get their things fixed.

0:50.5

And it comes to life in community repair cafes, just like this one.

0:56.9

In this program, we'll hear from listeners about their efforts to fix the things they own.

1:02.1

I can't even put a number on how many items I have repaired.

1:06.2

I try to repair it myself. It was a kind of crazy.

1:16.2

We'll discuss whether electronics makers are conspiring against us when it comes to product longevity. The manufacturers put special screws and security screws onto them so that even the

1:22.7

simplest tasks can't be performed. And hear how campaigners are trying to turn things back in the consumer's favour.

1:30.3

The principle is that throwaway products shouldn't exist.

1:36.6

I'm Laura Heightenjins and you're listening to Business Daily from the BBC.

1:53.4

I'm in Suffolk, a largely rural region of the UK. It's perceived to be, shall we say,

1:59.1

a bit cut off from things. But as I approached this community hall, I could hear the hubbub from outside. People of all ages are gathered here, and there's a queue at the welcome desk.

2:04.6

Seated around the room, a people working diligently with all manner of tools.

2:09.6

Sewing machines, a wet stone, a man with a head torch using a tiny screwdriver on something fiddly looking.

2:16.6

What they're doing here is giving new life to people's possessions,

2:21.2

not just household items, but sentimental ones too.

2:26.3

My name's Jenny Pryke.

...

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