Chester Repair Cafe to attend UK Parliament to ask MPs to fix our throwaway economy

On 25th March, Chester Repair Cafe is really excited to be joining 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 is organised by The Restart Project and Back Market, and supported by other organisations including SUEZ and Green Alliance.

The Restart Project and Back Market have run similar events for the last two years, attended by 60 MPs. This year, the event will be even bigger, with around 100 repair groups expected to be represented from all four UK nations. They will be calling for ambitious repair and reuse policies and celebrating the MPs that have signed up to the Repair and Reuse Declaration, the number of which is expected to reach 100 by the time of the event.

With the Circular Economy Growth Plan due to publish their recommendations 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 hopes to meet local MP, Samantha Dixon at the event in Parliament, and will encourage her to sign the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration. They will discuss measures that they hope to see taken forward from the Circular Economy Growth Plan.

Following the event, Chester Repair Cafe will be holding their monthly repair event for the local community as part of the Hoole Green Fair on Saturday 28th March at Hoole Community Centre. At the event, which will run from 10.30am - 12.30pm the public are encouraged to bring broken household electricals, bikes, computers and clothes; and volunteer fixers will help to repair them. Chester Repair Cafe, set up by Friends of the Earth Chester & District, has been running since October 2024 and is held monthly. Since it started, Chester Repair Cafe has helped avoid over 6 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Kerry and Hannah, organisers of Chester Repair Cafe, say:

“We’re over-the-moon with how popular Chester Repair Cafe has been. It’s become a warm, friendly space where people feel welcomed and part of the community, whether they’re a visitor or a volunteer. We’ve really enjoyed watching the restoration of a 60 year old teddy bear with sentimental value, and seeing how happy people are at having their things repaired. Sometimes these are the simplest things like a toaster, a vacuum, a pair of jeans; but we’ve also had more unexpected items, like an animatronic halloween butler or a child-sized moped.

We’re so proud to be part of a movement which is keeping dying skills alive. Whether that’s darning or fixing a toaster, young people today aren’t being taught how to repair their things. Or even that it’s possible. It’s become all too easy to just throw away your things and we want to change that. Our mission now is to help people learn to repair and support others to set up new repair cafes.”

Fiona Dear, Co-Director, The Restart Project, says:

“We’re excited to go to Parliament with representatives of almost 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’re thrilled to be returning 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.”