(00:01):
Well, I'm in over my head. No one told me trying to keep my footprint small was harder than I thought it could be. I'm in over my head. What do I really need? Trying to save the planet. Oh, is someone please save me? Trying to save the planet. Oh, will someone please save me?

(00:25):
Welcome to In Over My Head. I'm Michael Bartz. My guest today is Ugo Vallauri. Ugo is the co-founder and co-director of the Restart Project, a London-based charity and social enterprise focused on prolonging the life of electronics by empowering owners to repair their own items. He is also a founding member of the European Right to Repair campaign. Ugo has over 15 years of experience in international development related to communication technology. As a researcher, he worked extensively on participatory uses of new media technologies by farmer communities in Kenya. Welcome to In Over My Head Ugo.

(00:58):
Thanks for having me.

(01:00):
So in talking about our digital life, it was inevitable that our devices would be part of this conversation. They're the things that make our modern comforts possible, but a lot of our gadgets have an environmental impact, both in manufacturing and their use and disposal. While looking into this topic, I was delighted to discover the Restart project and learn about the work you do. So what exactly is the Restart project?

(01:18):
The Restart project is a charity based in London in the UK that inspires and supports people to repair more of our digital and electric and electronic devices to prevent unnecessary waste and campaign for our right to repair to make sure that repair becomes the norm again. It's affordable, accessible, and the norm.

(01:42):
Yeah. And when you're empowering people to repair their devices, you're doing these restart parties. What do those look like?

(01:49):
Yeah, we just celebrated 10 years since the very first restart party back in 2012. Restart parties are community repair events where participants bring the products that they're struggling with and often it's products that don't even have commercial repair options available. So products like headphones or toasters or kettles, printers, laptops, turntables and the likes. All kinds of things that the rule is it's something that you are able to physically bring to an event. So it would it be your washing machines or fridge because this like things are need to be visited at home and at these events. Volunteers that have experience taking these products apart and learning how to fix them, repair them with you to try to fix the problem and inspire you to learn more about things can be repaired so that it's not just about having free fix, but it's a lot more about learning how we can be more responsible in the way we use and repair and support our products.

(03:00):
And so when people come to these restart parties, are they people who've never even opened electronic device? What kind of people are coming to these parties?

(03:09):
All kinds of people come to restart parties because basically everyone has this frustration that you can't necessarily figure out how something can be repaired or where to take it. And so it's people who might be interested in tinkering already but need a little bit more guidance. People who will be afraid to just look at a YouTube video and try to do it themselves the first time around and need a bit of encouragement could be people who wouldn't know where to start or people who have a strong environmental drive but don't necessarily know what to do with one of those black boxes. And everyone is there because they're keen to learn a little bit more and resist the temptation to just give up and order a next-hour delivery of something new.

(04:00):
And so I like that you call them parties. That's a fun thing. So is it kind of a fun social atmosphere as well?

(04:05):
Yeah, that's the idea that it's not like a boring setting. It's something where if you have a tiny bit of curiosity there's always something else to learn apart from fixing your own product, there's plenty of interesting conversations that happen. People at times take out note pads and start taking notes about what else they've learned about maintenance tips or just having a chat about what's the great reuse store in their neighbourhood or what professional repair they might want to support when something happens. They really needs to act on it quickly. So the idea is indeed that people learn from each other, people are having a great time and that it inspires a different way of looking at the way we relate to this product. Which could mean for some people repair on their own, for others, look for more help and others actually become volunteers because they were curious about it. But they realized that actually they do have valuable skills and they can help others whether it's with software tips or other ways to prolong the life of our devices.

(05:14):
No, that's really cool. And so I assume, you know, doing it for 10 years and hosting as many parties as you have, you've probably seen a change in people who have come regularly, would you say?

(05:23):
There's all kinds of examples really. We've been doing these events in London, but progressively we shifted from running ourselves as many events as possible to supporting community groups around us to run the own versions and supporting other community-linked organizations to run such activities across the UK in Europe elsewhere. And ultimately we're part of a much broader network of such initiatives around the world. Some of your listeners might have heard of repair cafes in the US there is Fixit Clinics. There's all kinds of similar types of activities that are happening where people with their frustrations for the amount of waste we generate actually want to do something about it. Whether by sharing their own skills or by trying to reach out to people that have the skills. So there might well be some people that are regulars at these events, but by and large we encourage event organizers to host these events in all kinds of different places. So to create an environment where more and more people learn about the idea and they don't become like a service in a sense of where people keep coming back to, but more a provider of inspiration for people to think about repair as the first option whenever something does break.

(06:47):
Yeah, and that makes sense. I guess if you're empowering people to learn how to repair their devices, they should be able to eventually do it themselves and feel like they're self-sufficient and I think that's wonderful that you're expanding and there're obviously other organizations doing the similar work and that it's a global movement, which I think is wonderful for you And the Restart project, how did it get started?

(07:08):
For us, it was the fact that my co-founder and I both had the opportunity to live overseas and to get to know communities in the global south where we were in a way seen more and more of these devices becoming prevalent there, but a different attitude towards them. For instance, people trying to do their best to make a device last as much as possible and think repair advice as often as needed. And the big stark difference going back to Europe or to London where we were both based and see how this wasn't necessarily happening. While people did have skills, many reusable products would end up in a recycling facility at most and in many cases just in a bin. And so we wanted to inspire a different relationship with the electronics in our lives and trying to reclaim connections within our communities between people that have the skills and people that need the skills.

(08:12):
So that's how it started that. It's interesting that you pointed to, you know, how things evolve and how they grow because I mentioned the restart part is that one of our more recent ideas that we are working on quite a bit at the moment is actually an establishing more of a permanent presence in our streets. And so we launched in London the first fixing factory and we're launching a second one soon. And these are experimental permanent spaces where people can access repair more on an ongoing basis. So community run and in one case we have one within a recycling center, which is focusing on laptops and trying to prevent laptops from ending up as recycling when they could be reused. Whether just by refurbishing them a little bit, upgrading the operated system to something maybe free and open source that can give them an extra release of live et cetera. And we're opening a second one pushed aims to be like a community space in a high street where you can go in rather than once a month like in case over restart party or repair cafe maybe three days a week and meet up with people that have skills, get some advice, get some tips and find ways to extend the life of that product so that it becomes a more natural part of our community life and not just something for very few people to be able to access once a month for example.

(09:44):
No, that's great that you're able to expand and offer that service. And so with this new initiative, how has the response been?

(09:51):
There's a lot of interest and excitement about these more permanent spaces and our approach to them is one, but there's multiple attempts around the world at making repair more visible and more directly part of everyday life. So we'll see which of these approaches work best and we'll learn from each other collaboratively. We're in touch with a number of organizations that are attempting similar things. Obviously, when you're talking about more permanent spaces and initiatives, there are costs involved in running them and keeping them up to speed. And while all of these community-run events tend to be very much volunteer-driven, there is a limit to how much you can do in that kind of setup. So there's a lot of learning ongoing, not just in the UK but around the world at the moment about how can you balance the need to make repair as affordable as possible with obviously the push for more repairable products to begin with that makes repair viable and how to reduce all the costs that can be barriers to making repair to norm again. So I expect gain the amount of interest and frustration plus the cost of living crisis that many people are currently experiencing. There will be a lot to be learned and shared in the coming months.

(11:16):
You in talking about the restart project and the work you are doing, we've touched on waste a little bit. I think that's a really important thing and obviously, that's the reason that you're doing the work you're doing. And so let's talk about maybe a smartphone. Cause I think a lot of people have them. There's billions of them, we use 'em every day. What sort of environmental impact does the smartphone have?

(11:35):
Smartphones are a great example exactly because everyone at this point, almost everyone has one. In fact, many people have more than one and we tend to replace them very, very frequently, a lot more frequently than we would like to in many cases. And why is this all important? Because the vast majority of the environmental impact of a smartphone occurs before you've ever switched it on. Approximately 79% of all the environmental footprint of that device happens within manufacturing and the transport from wherever it's manufactured all the way to you. So what does this mean? That only a much smaller proportion of the environmental impact of the product has to do with the in use phase and then the recycling. And what this means is that the only way we can reduce our overall environmental impact due to these devices and all the other ones, but smartphones are particularly important because we seem to be going through them at a much faster rate than we go through bicycles or other things, is by extending the use phase.

(12:54):
And now extending the use phase means two things. One, that when a product breaks we should be able to get it repaired easily and whether we do it by ourselves at a community repair event or by heading to a professional repairer. And the second thing is that we should have all the incentives we can to keep using them, which means ensuring that the software embedded in this device that should continue to operate for as long as possible and software and security updates should be guaranteed for much longer than they are. Last year we ran as part of the European Right to repair campaign thought-provoking campaign asking for smartphones to last 10 years. And a lot of people seemed outraged and why with all the innovation that happen in the system, why should we only replace the phone every 10 years? I, you need the latest and greatest tech.

(13:51):
And the reality is we're not suggesting that people should be banned from getting a new phone, but we should all be in a position to keep using a phone for much longer. And for many people this will be totally fine. We live in a ward where there's this peer pressure to an extent or it's been like that for the last few years that oh, you should keep upgrading because you have a better camera. You have a slightly faster phone that takes one 10th of a second less when you tap on the app. The reality is for many people they end up replacing the phone because there are too many barriers to repairing it and simply the software doesn't get updated anymore and we need to change this. It's time, particularly given all of the not very recyclable materials that are used to make these phones. We live in this myth that once we're done with them, as long as we take them to the recycling facility, then all the materials are put back in circulation. This is not true. It will be great if it were true, but for many materials the recycling rate is extremely low and these are materials that are also useful for production of devices that help us use renewable energy.

(15:10):
Yeah, no that's really interesting. I think that'd be amazing if we could have a smartphone last 10 years. That point about the software updates is such a good one because even if you wanted to physically repair the phone, if the screen was cracked or the battery wasn't lasting as long, sometimes you just can't run certain apps and that's I think, yeah, big reason why people replace their devices when people come to have their, let's say a smartphone repair, if it's a software issue, cannot be updated with hardware.

(15:37):
So if someone comes to the restart project to one of the restart party events with a software-related problem, there can be solutions at times they're a little bit more challenging as solutions because it might revolve around for some models moving onto a different operating system that will continue to be updated by a community of users. So there are free and open source versions of Android, more open source then Android itself, which is controlled by Google. Let's not forget that Google can decide when and whether to stop sending updates. Apple in terms of software generally does a better job in terms of keeping their devices supported for longer. But it's not perfect and everyone can get better. This has a huge impact if there's tens of millions of units of that device still hanging out there.

(16:40):
This right to repair has me really interested because obviously it's, it's great to repair your own devices but that has its limits as we've discussed. So let's talk a bit more about the right to repair and what that might look like in the future.

(16:51):
The right to repair is a movement that's quickly becoming global as more and more people realize that sure it's great to repair your own product or to help others repair more, but what we really need changing is a system where manufacturers have had a lot of control on whether product can be repaired or not by way of, for example, not making spare parts available or pricing them in a way to discourage everyone from choosing repair or making repair manual proprietary and not sharing how best the repair product. And of course also by doing things like soldering battery into a product so that when the battery starts losing capacity it becomes less and less likely that you could make good use of it and making it costly, more time consuming and therefore more expensive if you need to go to a professional to replace that component.

(17:51):
So that's an issue that everyone understands and you have across the world approximately 80% of all people that want this to change and yet manufacturers still have a lot of power in resisting and lobbying against legislation efforts that could make a real change. And that's simply because they're still stuck to this make break replace system where they make most of their money out of selling you more and more products. And the overall environmental cost of all of this is not something that they have to deal with, but we do as we as people and plan it. And so that's why we really need to change the system as a whole. The right to repair movement aims a changing this system, bringing back control to people so that we have the options to choose whether we want something to be repaired by an independent repairer, by the manufacturer, by community, by a restart party or by yourself.

(19:00):
And always having access to all the tools and the materials and the spare parts there are needed to make the most of a device. And increasingly the software piece is just as important as manufacturers are attempting to use software to create more barriers for us to repair and to keep using a product. So there's great initiatives ongoing both in North America, in Europe, in Australia and more recently commission looking at creating legislation to that effect in India as well, for example. So there is more and more of a global perspective on all of this, but we need to act much faster than we have so far. We as consumers have many things we can do. One is of course repair your own product, choose more repairable products when you're buying them, whether brand new or secondhand. And certainly prefer a secondhand product if you can because you're reducing the environmental impact. But most importantly we really need to make our voices heard to push for legislation that would actually make an impact for everyone, not just for people who already care about repairing, but for everyone to be able to find repair as more affordable, more accessible and more commonplace everywhere in the world.

(20:23):
Oh that's great Ugo. I mean you've kind of covered it already, but this show is about empowering citizens to take action on the climate crisis. So what can individuals do to have an impact when it comes to our devices and the right to repair?

(20:36):
So first thing is take care of your devices. Make sure that you prevent them from breaking to begin with so you know, have a good case and ensure that you really keep good care of your products. And realizing, appreciating the range of materials and at times very important materials that are including in them is one way to do that. And then when you realize that, choose repair whenever you can consider that you are doing your part by repairing and extending the useful lifetime of a product. If you no longer need a product, put it back in circulation before it decays. So make sure that you sell it back or donate it, pass it on so that it doesn't end up just hidden in someone's wardrobe. And obviously support initiatives that push for right to repair in your country, in your community. There are petitions out there, there's campaigns out there, there's organizations like the History project in the UK but also in Canada, in Switzer, in India, in Australia, anywhere in the world there are pushing for that and support them. Anywhere you can push those messages, amplify them and make sure that they're taken seriously by politicians in wherever you are.

(21:56):
Great. That's super helpful Ugo and this has been a very inspiring conversation. I'm excited to repair all my devices and make them last longer and love them forever. So thanks so much for coming on the show.

(22:07):
Thanks for having me and good luck for the rest of the season.

(22:13):
Well, that was my chat with Ugo. I think the work the restart project is doing is so valuable in empowering people to repair the devices and make a larger change with the manufacturers and legislation so we don't have to worry about these sort of things. I think that's great. Well, that's all for me. I'm Michael Bartz. Here's the feeling a little less in of our head when it comes to saving the planet. We'll see again soon. In Over My head was produced and hosted by Michael Bartz original theme song by Gabriel Thaine. If you would like to get in touch with us, email info@inovermyheadpodcast.com. Special thanks to Telus STORYHIVE for making this show possible.

(22:49):
I'm trying to save the planet. Oh, will someone please save me?