Originally published at: https://therestartproject.org/news/what-happened-on-repair-day-2024/
For Repair Day 2024, we continued our theme of Repair for Everyone and that meant that part of our goal was to expand events further than we previously had. And we did it! Over 2000 events in over 40 countries took place over the Repair Day period – that’s way more countries than ever before!
As one way to mark the day, with ORA, we published the first report into our global repair data called: “The rise of community repair: the people and the data building a movement”. The report delves deep into the data ORA has collected over the years, offering insights into the growth of community repair worldwide as well as the barriers to repair that we still face and the need for stronger legislation to support repair. And this growth of community repair can be no better exemplified than by the amount of activity for Repair Day this year!
Kicking off Repair Day early, the European Right to Repair campaign held a webinar to share findings from the ORA report and to discuss the current state of right to repair regulations in Europe. They were joined by members of the European Commission and representatives of our wider repair network.
Here’s what happened in the UK
There were 120 events in the UK alone this year, with many politicians in attendance to learn about and support their local group’s work. We continued our promotion of the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration and also released some brand new research. For the BREW (Beyond Recycling of E-Waste) report, we investigated rates of reuse at waste facilities across the UK and found that, in the simplest terms, not enough of it is happening. A host of MPs visited their local repair cafe for Repair Day (and saw how amazing they are!) and we showed up in media coverage by The Telegraph, BBC Radio, Positive News and more!
Having gained the attention of UK media and repair organisers, we plan to get it on the government’s agenda. Notable events around the UK included, Re:Make Newport’s 3rd birthday celebration, the opening of Repair Cafe Foyle’s new Library of Things, and a cake designing competition by Repair Cafe Portsmouth.
Repair Day in the UK (Credit: Share and Repair Bath and Re:Make Newport)
In Europe
Another huge landmark of the Repair Day period was the 15th anniversary of Repair Cafe International. In the Netherlands, they held an XL repair cafe in The Hague which saw one hundred repairers gather to repair over two hundred items! They also screened a documentary that celebrated all of their impactful work over the last 15 years which will soon be available to watch.
As always, partners across Europe celebrated the occasion in new and exciting ways. In Brussels, Repair Together and Repair&Share teamed up to confer the famous Manneken-Pis with a repairer outfit and hold a repair cafe in the capital. There was huge growth of events in Italy where they more than doubled from last year, combining community repair with activities by members of the Right to Repair campaign. And in France, HOP celebrated a successful second edition of Journeès Nationales de la Réparation with a whopping almost 1500 events listed on our Repair Day map. We also saw the first Repair Day events ever in many countries including: youth maker clubs in Moldova, a repair shop opening in Macedonia, and celebrations in Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Monaco, Austria, Hungary and Iceland.
Repair Day 2024 in Brussels (Credit: Repair&Share)
And what went on around the world!
We also saw growth of events in the USA and Canada where over 22 events happened to commemorate the occasion such as, multiple repair events by our friends at Fixit Clinic and Repair Cafe Hudson Valley, and the first annual TCA Tech Repair People Appreciation Week. Further south, our long-time friends at Club de Reparadores organised events in Argentina, Chile and Mexico. And we saw the first Repair Day events ever in Brazil!
In Ghana, Benin, Kenya and Uganda events took place to further repair education, including refugee communities and school children. And Repair Cafe Collective India followed suit, running a series of workshops across the country to teach children about different kinds of repair. They also facilitated an online event bringing together teachers, writers, architects, neuro-psychologists, neuroscientist educators, parents, and filmmakers to speak about repair and maintenance.
Repair Day in around the world, from the US to Uganda (Credit: The Tool Library and Community Creativity for Development) Repair Café’s 15th Anniversary event in The Hague and bunting designed by RCANZ members for the occasion (Credit: Martin Waalboer / Repair Café International and RCANZ)
We were excited to see that events took place in Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea. And of course, repair communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia came out in force to celebrate the occasion including a talk on ‘Why Repair Matters’ by the Australian Repair Network.
More than anything, we’re so excited to see this movement growing year on year, reaching new communities and gaining new meaning through it.
Learn more about what went on:
