Londoners threw away £1.8bn worth of items last year that could have been repaired

A survey has found that, on average, Londoners threw away an estimated £258 of items they think could have been repaired in the past year.

This means an estimated £1.8billion worth of repairable items were binned by Londoners in the last year.

News of the survey from polling by Censuswide comes as Repair Week’s annual celebration of repair takes place in London from today, to encourage people of all ages to learn how to repair.

In person and online repair workshops will take place throughout London this week, with events run by high street brands, local authorities, charities and repair groups. 

Partners and brands running workshops this year include Beyond Retro, the Royal College of Art, Hackney’s Castle Climbing Centre and Vivobarefoot. 

Workshops include, The Remakery x Fast Fashion Therapy presents Beginners Sewing at The Remakery, 51 Lilford Road, Brixton, today from 6.30pm until 8pm.

Tomorrow, Beyond Retro will be hosting a panel talking event staring at 7:30pm in its Argyll Street store in Soho.

A number of technology repair workshops and pop ups start on Wednesday and bike repair sessions will begin on Friday and continue through the weekend.

Rebecca Child, Repair Week campaign manager, said: “With the cost of living and climate crises, it makes sense that there is a growing appetite for learning to repair and upcycle rather than throw away.

“There are lots of free events across the capital, and a lovely community spirit to be found in local repair workshops if you can get to one.”

The survey also found, there are an estimated 25 million textile items such as clothes and bedding, 10 million bikes, 19 million electrical items, 16 million items of furniture and 14 million bathroom fixtures or fittings in need of repair in London homes.

More than half of Londoners are worried about the cost of replacing broken or damaged items this year.

For more information including a full list of workshops and repair hacks visit,

https://londonrecycles.co.uk/repair-week/whats-on/

Pictured Top: Last year’s Repair Week (Picture: ReLondon)