LONDON, 26 February 2025 – A recent survey conducted for London Recycles ahead of Repair Week 2025 has revealed that Londoners spent an average of £464.21 per person replacing damaged or broken items they believe could have been repaired over the past year. This adds up to a staggering £3.24 billion[1] across London, marking a £240 million increase from a similar poll conducted for London Repair Week 2024[2].
The findings highlight the significant environmental and financial benefits of repairing rather than replacing items. However, many Londoners are unaware of affordable repair options or don’t feel they have the skills to fix things themselves.
London Repair Week 2025: free workshops and events
London Repair Week 2025, running from 3rd to 9th March, aims to inspire Londoners to embrace the repair revolution. With almost 90 active partners holding over 220 events across the city, many of which are free, the week offers opportunities to learn practical repair skills while connecting with others in the community.
56% of Londoners from the survey agreed that participating in a repair workshop would make them feel more connected to their local community, and 33% claim to have made friends at similar events in the past.
Workshops will cover a wide range of skills and items. Confirmed event hosts include London National Park City, Decathlon, TRAID, Kundakala, NOW Gallery and Trash Club. These workshops are designed to empower participants to extend the life of their belongings while reducing waste and saving money.
Repair Week has expanded beyond London again this year, bringing the repair movement to even more communities across the nation. Greater Manchester will be taking part for the third year running, while Cardiff, County Durham, Liverpool City Region, Belfast and Northern Ireland will take part for the first time.
Ali Moore, head of campaigns for London RecyclesLondon Repair Week is about empowering people to make their stuff last longer, meet people and connect with their community. Whether you’re motivated by financial savings, environmental concerns, or simply want to learn a new skill, there’s something for everyone at this year’s event.
For a full list of workshops and events during #RepairWeekLDN, visit the London Recycles website London Recycles | Repair Week – What’s On.
Survey findings[3]: a growing appetite for repair culture
The survey conducted by Censuswide reveals a growing interest in repair culture among Londoners:
- 77% want to learn repair skills to save money
- 67% would prefer repairing items themselves if they had the knowledge
- 57% are concerned about the cost of replacing broken items in the coming year
- 56% enjoy repairing items with others and want to learn more
- 58% would attend more local repair events if available locally
- 80% feel a sense of achievement when repairing things
Despite these positive trends, commonly discarded items like shoes (31%), clothing (29%), and kettles (27%) are often thrown away without exploring repair options.
Launching the UK’s first electrical repair voucher scheme
In addition to the events and workshops, an innovative repair voucher pilot scheme is being announced during the week. Funded by the North London Waste Authority and delivered in partnership by The Restart Project, ReLondon and FixFirst, this scheme is the first of its kind in the UK and aims to tackle one of the biggest barriers to repair: cost[4].
Key details of the scheme include:
- Vouchers offering consumers 50% off repair costs (up to £50)
- A trial run will take place across North London, with businesses accepting vouchers in Haringey, Hackney and Waltham Forest.
- Launch date set for 1 April 2025, running for six months
- The vouchers are available for use on repairs to household electrical items like toasters, kettles, lamps and tech including mobile phones and laptops
How it works: North London residents can apply for a voucher online and will receive a QR code to use at participating repair high street businesses listed on an interactive map. Once a repair is booked, customers receive their discount at payment. Businesses then claim back the cost from partner Fixfirst.
Fiona Dear, Co-Director at The Restart ProjectRepair is hugely popular, but cost is one of the main reasons that people don’t fix their electricals. So we’re delighted to be trialling a repair voucher scheme in North London. The trial will directly reduce repair costs for Londoners, encourage more people to try out repair, and support North London’s repair businesses. We look forward to seeing the impact of the pilot, and making the case for further, longer-term schemes in the UK.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Kundakala is a Hackney and Lambeth-based social enterprise that runs 6-month make and mend programmes that empower women to become more social, confident and financially independent through repair, upcycling and tailoring.
- Community Tech Aid is a grassroots charity in south London with a mission to enable sustainable access to technology and education needed to extend digital inclusion to all.
- Woodshop of Recycled Delights is a community organisation teaching carpentry and upcycling skills using reclaimed wood, while equipping attendees with the skills that will allow them to attempt their own repairs at home.
The research was conducted by Censuswide with 3,555 Respondents (aged 18+) across London, Manchester, County Durham, Cardiff, Liverpool and Belfast between 16.01.2025 – 22.01.2025. London results based on 1,048 18+ Londoners. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles and are members of The British Polling Council.
- The cost of professional repair is one of the biggest barriers to getting things fixed
- This will be the first trial of electrical repair vouchers in the UK.
- Repair vouchers help residents cut costs, reduce waste and carbon emissions through keeping things in use for longer, and support local repair businesses.
- Repair vouchers are popular: Polling in 2023 showed that 79% of the UK public support a government repair voucher scheme (Restart, 2023). But we also know that often national policy needs to be based on regional trials.
- There are voucher schemes in a number of other countries, most notably across Austria since 2022 after a number of successful regional trials. And these have been shown to encourage more repairs.
- Data from an Upper Austrian regional repair voucher trial found that 40% beneficiaries wouldn’t have chosen repair without the scheme.
- The data also showed that vouchers can get people into the habit of repair: 80% of repair businesses noticed increases in the number of repairs during the trial. There was a small drop after the trial ended, but repair rates didn’t drop back to pre-trial levels, suggesting that once people try out their local repair shop, they’re more likely to get things repaired again, whether there’s a voucher or not.
London Recycles is London’s recycling campaign, helping people across the capital recycle more and waste less. It is supported by the Mayor of London, delivered to help London boroughs increase their household recycling rates, and designed and run by ReLondon. Find out more here.
ReLondon is a partnership of the Mayor of London and the London boroughs to improve waste and resource management and transform the city into a leading low carbon circular economy. ReLondon’s team delivers tailored support to government, businesses and citizens. The organisation works to reduce waste, increase recycling and accelerate London’s transition to a low carbon circular economy.
ReLondon was established as a statutory Board under the Greater London Authority Act 2007 as the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB). Find out more
——————————————————————–
[1] Extrapolations of the data to represent the whole of Greater London for value of damaged or broken item(s) which could have been repaired. The data was weighted to 2022 ONS Midyear estimates, 18 + population figures for Londoners: 6,969,318. ‘Londoners’ refers to respondents within ‘Greater London’.
[2] Polling of 1,009 18+ Londoners carried out by Censuswide 12.02.2024 – 14.02.2024, found Londoners were spending an average of £459.80 per year/£3 billion p.a.
[3] Combining answer options “Strongly agree” and “Somewhat agree.”
[4] Report – ReCare project: Uncovering factors that influence electrical and electronic repair for Londoners – ReLondon
