Repair and Reuse

ISABELLE: Hello and welcome to the Carbon Copy Podcast with me, Isabelle Sparrow. 

BRADLEY: And me, Bradley Ingham.  

ISABELLE: We’re back with another episode in our series, Do Something Bigger, where we’re exploring ways to create meaningful, collaborative change for climate and nature in the place where you live. Over the course of 2025 we’re covering 25 different actions which can make a difference to climate change and to nature, so if today’s action is not so relevant to you, do come back for the next episode – which might be more your thing! 

Carbon Copy is a charity inspiring more big-thinking local action for climate and nature. This podcast series is part of our year-long campaign: 25 Big Local Actions in 2025, do check out the show notes for more information, and subscribe now to hear the next episodes as soon as they land. 

BRADLEY: Today’s episode focuses on an ever-practical action: Repair and Reuse. 

ISABELLE: Yes, this is all about extending the life of the things we already own and reducing waste by making repair and reuse part of our everyday lives. 

Brad, how much CO2 do you think could be saved if every parish in the UK held a repair café every month?  

BRADLEY: Ooo um, I honestly have no idea, how much do you think we’re talking? 

ISABELLE: 5 MILLION tonnes. 

BRADLEY: 5 million tonnes, so 5 million tonnes in a month? 

ISABELLE: Yep, it’s crazy, absolutely crazy. That’s over 6% of the entire carbon emissions per month in 2023. It’s loads.  

BRADLEY: Crikey, so this really is a BIG local action then. 

ISABELLE: It sure is. So let’s hear from some people who are creating real positive change in this space here in the UK. First, we’ll hear from Clare, who runs an organisation called Share (Portsmouth), which is a thriving repair charity that’s helping her community extend the life of their belongings. 

CLARE: I started a Repair Café in Portsmouth eight years ago now. I’ve been passionate about the environment for a long time and but I love practical solutions for things so things that people can do. But I was really frustrated with broken stuff and not being able to fix things, but knowing that there were people around me that did have those skills and so Repair Café started in the way that most Repair Cafés are run, which is a monthly event you know full of volunteers with skills and the public who have broken stuff bring it along, sit with us and we attempt to fix things together. 

But I was also really conscious that lots of people if we couldn’t fix things, didn’t have friends or family that they felt they could borrow things from and obviously consumption is a massive issue, you know digging up the amounts of raw materials, and the carbon embedded in all these things that we own and especially those things that we own, but don’t use very frequently. So, we set up a charity, it’s about two years ago now, which encompasses those and our Repair Café is based in our main shopping centre. We’re open for four sessions a week rather than monthly, and we have a Library of Things where people can borrow stuff.  

So it was very much kind of from my own frustration, but actually I think people respond well to things that fit into the mad lives that we live and can help us not only save money, but have a great experience as well. People, you know when we sit together, with people repairing stuff it’s always an opportunity to be chatting about, you know our concerns about the planet or whatever it is on some of my you know there’s lots of other lovely things as part of bringing people together as well as the joy of fixing stuff. 

BRADLEY: It’s so lovely to hear how Clare turned her passion for sustainability into something that’s more tangible and that’s making a difference in her community. 

ISABELLE: Yeah it sounds like it’s so much more than just a repair cafe or a Library of Things, I love what she’s saying about it bringing people together and there being a lot of joy to it as well. I was curious to know how she was able grow this project, and how she kept up the motivation to keep it going. 

CLARE: The only way I think I can be brave enough as well is having a tribe, if nothing else, of strong women around me who are just my friends and support each other, as well as the amazing group of volunteers that have come forward when we’ve done shout outs and help make the organisation run and challenge things. And there are people across the country as well that are also campaigning. So although it’s a really practical thing, we absolutely are still pushing the system to be changed and governments and policies to be shifted. So also connecting with other people in the UK and around the world is really motivating. So even like getting together maybe every other year with the sort of more international gang and linking in with people in the UK on a more regular basis, but it’s really it helps you stay motivated and fired up and wanting to do this mad and beautiful thing. It’s really good fun, a lot of it. 

ISABELLE: I really love this idea of speaking to other communities and groups that are doing similar things to keep you motivated and inspired! It’s sounds like people literally all over the world are doing some of this stuff and Share (Portsmouth) is a great example of creating something much much bigger by working together, which transitions really nicely to our next guest! 

BRADLEY: Absolutely, if we’re talking doing something bigger, then Dr Adam Read from SUEZ is the guy to talk to! SUEZ is a global leader in waste and resource management, and here in the UK, they’ve been pioneering reuse centres that transform items destined for landfill into valuable resources. I have to say I’ve used a couple of these myself being near Manchester, I’ve picked up quite a few nice things for the house from those guys. These centres are not just reducing more waste but also creating opportunities for communities to get involved in repair and reuse. We asked Adam to explain how these centres operate and the partnerships that make them possible. 

ADAM: So the average reuse shop is an evolution of the tip. So, you know, historically you go down to the tip, the Household Waste Recycling Centre, the CA site, you know, whatever you want to call it in your local geography, and you take stuff that isn’t being collected from the kerbside, so you might take a carpet or some furniture, or you’d be down there with, you know, several bags of rubble, and then you’re going to take some cuddly toys. So the idea is that we intervene and we help the public go, “Oh, that’s valuable,” or “That could have a second life,” or “Can we check that, you know, that piece of furniture, for example?” And so they would then be put in a separate container so that we can then do a quick check on whether or not you could be reused or they could have a quick repair, and therefore they could be put back to good use in preferably the local community and economy. 

And I guess having done that at one or two shops in places like, you know, Surrey it then became not only a proven model, it would pay for itself. So financially, we are now creating money from sites in Surrey that’s helping offset the cost of the waste management service in the county. So it’s a valuable part of the portfolio that we offer. And because you’ve created a system that not only works, but you can adapt from one site to another, depending on how much space you’ve got and what materials are coming in, because the residents of Surrey are very different from the residents of Manchester in terms of the things they want to bring. So you might need less space or more space or different types of container, there’s more books or golf clubs in Surrey are very popular, less so in Manchester, for example. And so you start to adapt and learn about both the geography and the service required. And that then became almost an intrinsic offering that we’ve got at all of our local authority municipal sites is where there’s enough space to do it, a separate set of containers at the front of the site, we will do it because it’s doing the right thing for the local communities and for the materials that we handle.  

And that is the basic offering, somewhere like Manchester, we’ve been able to go significantly further. So you’ve got three main shops at three of the 14 sites that are receiving materials. But those materials are then being taken off site, so they can be looked at in a very professional way. And so now we’re taking more material, and we’re doing not only repair, but we’re upcycling the furniture and turning it into bespoke furniture with much more inherent value. And then you’re selling that back for a premium into communities who really want that leather chair that in the 1970s that’s been a bit discarded and unloved. But now it’s got a bit of patchwork on it, and it’s got a new set of cushions. And actually, it looks beautiful. Well, that money is helping pay for the apprentices that are working on site who are also returning lots of IKEA type chairs that have been mass produced that we’re getting and just need a bit of a sand down. And now they’re going back into marginal communities who maybe can only afford a fiver for a chair. Well, we’ve got chairs that are priced at that point as well. And you know, that works when you’ve got a really large facility like we have at Trafford Park there, because an old composting hall that had fallen out of use and was unloved has now been turned – you know, it’s the size of several football pitches to give you scale – is now being used with these pods so that you can take different material streams, electricals, test them, repair them, maybe put a new plug on them, give them a clean. Furniture, you know, let’s repair it, let’s upcycle it, let’s give it new life, new value. So we’re learning lessons constantly from different sites on what works and what doesn’t. 

BRADLEY: Wow, I mean, the scale of what these guys are doing is incredible. I love how practical it is – turning what could be waste into something valuable and also making it accessible to different people at different price points! 

ISABELLE: Yeah, and I think as well as making the furniture items and the repurposed items accessible to people, it’s also helping bring more people into a work environment, getting people into jobs, giving people training. I love the fact that they’ve got apprentices who are going through this programme and it’s really giving a whole lot more than the repair and reuse part of what they do. 

BRADLEY: Yeah definitely, I feel like if I was a young man again, I would definitely be doing something like this because I’m keen on the old practical side of things definitely. 

ISABELLE: Brad, you are a young man. 

BRADLEY: Mostly young. 

ISABELLE: Do you know someone who could get REALLY into repair and reuse? Why not share this episode with them and inspire them to do something bigger where they live! Remember, you can also leave a review to let other people know what you liked best about the pod – it really helps more people to find us, and to learn more about taking BIG local action for climate and nature. 

ISABELLE: We wanted to know a bit more about the social impact of reuse centres, from creating jobs to fostering local connections. 

ADAM: I think the really important thing about reuse and repair is that local nature, it’s people from the community with their own material, doing things for the benefit of their own community. So if you take Manchester, we’ve got an apprentice, two apprentices that are working on upcycling furniture. So they’re being taught by a furniture expert, lots of craft skills in terms of, you know, using a lathe, or how to use spray cans and the health and safety that goes with that, the finishing touches and all of the other bits and pieces that go with creating cushions for chairs, so it’s quite hands on. And some of my team have done some of these courses. And it’s I mean, honestly, these people are expert and they deserve all the accreditation they get because you really are giving them a skill that they got for life. And then and we’re taking some of these apprentices on now to become part of our delivery team in a much more, you know, full time member of employment. But then you look at what we’re doing in Surrey, we’re working with a couple of the local prisons. One’s got young offenders. They’ve got, you know, day release, or they’re working, you know, in a kind of more open prison environment where we’re providing them with materials a bit like we do in the hub, but they’re then using that as the focal point for their day’s worth of work. And that might be, you know, carpentry, it might be bike repairs, it could be, you know, electricals. And then at the end of the day or the week, we then take containers back to our sites for sale. And, you know, we share the benefits. And so they get paid, you know, a prison wage, they get a new skill set that they can then when they come out and work, they’re better prepared to enter employment. 

And we get to see materials being put back into the communities from which they came, which then benefits, you know, marginal groups in society, those that are struggling to, you know, to pay for heating or rent or whatever it might be, they’re not having to worry about the furniture because they can get that much cheaper. So the benefits around reuse and repair are absolutely there. They’re overwhelming, if you like, in some respects, but they’re badly calculated. And so when you talk about this with, you know, our political masters, if you like, because a lot of this is local authority enabled, because that’s where the material is coming from. They don’t see the value of an apprentice, because it’s not just one apprentice, but look at the ripple effect that that apprentice has on lots of other young people who suddenly think this is quite cool. Or the young offender that now can come back into work. And we’ve got several of them working at our sites in Surrey, who used to be on the young offender programme and now, you know, got a job with us and are doing a great, you know, they can see a career that they could never see before. And they’ve got a skill set that they probably never thought they wanted or needed. And now they’re like, they love what they do. So I think the, you know, the social benefits in its broadest sense are, are not only huge, but are probably still undermined. And the more we do, the more we learn about just how impactful these kinds of activities are. 

BRADLEY: Wow, I really love this element of, I guess its rehabilitation with young offenders and hearing those stories really puts into perspective how much of a difference this kind of work can make, it’s not just about repairing and reusing, it’s got a wider social impact as well. 

ISABELLE: Yeah it’s really amazing and I think it’s something that could absolutely be rolled out in other places and other kinds of projects where there is this kind of skills building element to it, could really take note and be helping young people and people who are out of work in their own areas to get back into it and to learn something new. Both Adam and Clare touched on the importance of creating lasting change. Clare shared her vision for the future of repair and reuse. 

CLARE: So people think I’m a little strange when I say this, but ultimately, I do not want us to exist. So I actually did a visionary piece for our city council recently around, you know, what the world might look like, what our city might look like in 2040. And as part of the story of that, I said, well, actually, I don’t run Share (Portsmouth) anymore because it doesn’t need to exist because we’ve got our young people and older people that are retraining have been able to get careers in repairing stuff. And now repair is much more affordable. There’s no VAT on repair and there are repair shops on our high street. Our high street is, you know, enlivened and part of that is repair. 

And people have got confidence in borrowing things from their neighbours and there are apps that means you can just hook up with someone locally and borrow something that you need. You know, and our tower blocks have a really handy little library of things, a cupboard at the bottom that you can just, if you need a sewing machine or you need a ladder or you need to drill within your block, you can use it. So ultimately I’d like us not to exist. I’m not expecting that to happen in the next five years. That’s a very ambitious goal. But that is what we’re working towards. We’re working towards changing the culture in our city. So I hope we’ll be a step closer to that. 

ISABELLE: Adam also echoed a similar vision, adding practical advice for individuals looking to make an impact. 

ADAM: I’d like to think that we can get 50 percent of households doing reuse and repair on a regular basis so that it’s the norm. I might be able to half the waste stream then because recycling would deal with one bit, we’re repairing and reusing other stuff and it’s going to leave very little left over for all of those end disposal points. I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of reason for us to get to a point where goods are looked after better. We design goods differently. We’re designed for repair or upcycling. And over the next five to ten years, you know, I think you’re going to see a huge swell, not only of interest, but of behaviour that aligns. So, you know, the tip won’t be the tip anymore. It’d be where you go for your reuse and repair. And then suddenly that becomes such a big kind of conceptual activity that it’d be too big for the tip. And that will then, you know, open up all sorts of avenues for green skills and new careers and it won’t be volunteers. There’ll be people that will be getting paid to do this because that will be the economy of the future. 

Tell your mum, tell your neighbour, you know, local community club, just keep the message going that, you know, donating is absolutely better than going to the tip and trying to get rid of this stuff that nothing should be got rid of in that respect. So that’s number one. Number two, yeah absolutely buy some, but don’t just buy it for the sake of buying it. We don’t want to create consumption where we don’t need it. Buy it when you need it, and then don’t be afraid of telling people about it. I mean, you know, if you want to go on social media and highlight your missing chair that’s now, you know, perfectly set up against your dining room set and go, look, you know, ‘I got this for 50 quid. Isn’t it perfect?’ I mean, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of positive social media, I’ll take that every day. But I think, you know, I’d say, you know, little steps is great and not everybody will get the opportunity next week or next month to make a positive contribution. But when the opportunity comes, make the right decision, you know, so when you do need to buy something, you know, think about the second or third hand opportunity first rather than defaulting to Amazon or other platforms. I think it’s a huge opportunity for us to normalise this stuff. 

BRADLEY: Well what a rather inspiring thing to end on eh. 

ISABELLE: Yeah absolutely, so much in there. Let’s just hope that both Clare and Adam’s visions come true. Shall we sum up what we’ve learned today? 

BRADLEY: So of course we’ve learned that repair and reuse are vital for reducing waste and also for making the most of the resources we already have. 

ISABELLE: But we also learned how powerful reuse and repair can be – to bring people together, to reduce consumption, but also to build skills and improve lives. 

BRADLEY: Yeah that’s right and finally, we also learned that everyone can get involved in some sort of way, whether it’s setting up a repair cafe in your local community, or maybe just simply donating your used items, rather than throwing them away! 

ISABELLE: If you’d like to learn more about the projects mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes for links. And if you’re curious about the other actions in our 25 Big Local Actions campaign, visit carboncopy.eco/takeaction. 

BRADLEY: Thanks for listening to the Carbon Copy Podcast. Our next episode is called Plant More Trees. 

ISABELLE: What’s that one about then?  

BRADLEY: Oh dear. If you’ve enjoyed this episode and want to learn more about any of our guests, do check out the show notes for useful links and remember to subscribe to the pod to hear new episodes as soon as we release them. 

ISABELLE: This episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast was written and presented by me, Isabelle: Sparrow. 

BRADLEY: And me, Bradley Ingham. 

ISABELLE: Brad also produced and edited the episode. Huge thanks to our guests, Clare Seek and Dr. Adam Read. Until next time, goodbye!