On 25th March, Chester Repair Cafe joined repair groups from across the UK at a repair cafe in Parliament, to call for policies to make it easier to repair our things. The event was organised by The Restart Project and Back Market, and supported by other organisations including SUEZ and Green Alliance. 

This year, the event was bigger than ever before, with 91 MPs in attendance and 100 repair groups represented from all four UK nations. Organisers and allies called for ambitious repair and reuse policies and celebrated the 143 MPs that have signed up to the Repair and Reuse Declaration, with 31 signing up at the event itself. 

The event saw a number of speeches by politicians and campaigners alike including, DEFRA Minister Mary Creagh, The Restart Project, Back Market, and Helen Hayes MP who also signed as the honorary 100th supporter of the Repair and Reuse Declaration. Team Repair gave a live demonstration to a class of school children who learned to fix their first gadgets. And, after taking Sean Fletcher’s broken toaster away with her following an appearance on BBC Breakfast last month, Fixing Factory volunteer Mikayla got to return it to him — now fixed!

With the Circular Economy Growth Plan due to be published this spring, the repair community is taking a timely chance to influence their local politicians. 4 in 5 people in the UK want the government to support repair more. It reduces our impact on the planet, saves us money and can be incredibly rewarding. But for repair and reuse to thrive in the UK, we need real policy change to support it. 

Chester Repair Cafe met local MP, Justin Madders at the event in Parliament, who signed the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration becoming one of almost 150 MPs to support the Declaration.  They discussed measures that they hope to see taken forward from the Circular Economy Growth Plan.

Chester Repair Cafe will be holding their next repair event for the local community, on Saturday 18th April, at Hoole Community Centre, from 10.30 till 12.30.  At the event, visitors are encouraged to bring small electricals, textiles, bikes and computers and volunteer fixers will help to repair them. Chester Repair Cafe has been running since October 2024 and is held once per month. So far Chester Repair Cafe have helped avoid over 6 tonnes of CO2 and 530kg waste.

Kerry and Hannah, organisers of Chester Repair Cafe, say: “We’re helping the Chester community to get support with repair when they need it. It’s become increasingly difficult and expensive to get things repaired, yet they seem to break more easily with our increased dependence on plastic partly to blame. We want people to have the option to save money by repairing their belongings rather than having to buy new. Our visitors often tell us how friendly and welcoming our event is and are amazed at the variety of items our repairers can fix.  Whether it’s equipment needed to keep someone in work or a vintage radio that keeps you dancing in your kitchen.” 

“We are always on the lookout for more volunteers and, after a successful pilot, are supporting St. Thomas’ Church in the Garden Quarter to open a new Repair Cafe in the city.  We’d love to see more young people get involved and hope the proximity to the main University campus will make volunteering more accessible.”

Fiona Dear, Co-Director, The Restart Project, says: “It was brilliant to be in Parliament with representatives of 100 of the UK’s repair cafes. Repair is something we can all do to save money and reduce waste, but it’s often too hard to fix our stuff. We want to show that repair is popular, and that government support to help us to give things a second life will also be popular. “

Katy Medlock, Back Market, says: “We were thrilled to return to Parliament for our third consecutive year alongside our partner, The Restart Project, championing repair and reuse. At Back Market, we’re on a mission to shift behaviour around new tech, encouraging more people to make the most from what they already own. Extending a device’s lifespan from 2.5 to 10 years can reduce carbon emissions by up to 68%, which is why we’re calling for greater support of the Repair and Reuse Declaration to help accelerate progress toward a stronger, more sustainable future for repair.”