Switched On Workshops
Published 1 March 2023
Electrical repair workshops
Switching On our Welly community to electrical repair and maintenance.
We live in a wasteful linear economy where most of the materials we use are used once and then end up in landfill. In New Zealand, millions of appliances are needlessly being dumped because they can't be repaired or people can’t access the skills to fix items. Repair is one way we can make our economy more circular.
By moving toward a circular economy we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.
The act of fixing stuff is a daunting one for most of us and mostly because we have no idea where to start. Nigel Scott from Make Room Wellington says, “if something is broken, what’s the worst that can happen if you attempt to fix it” and with this in mind, our collaborative electrical workshops were born.
During November 2023 Sustainability Trust, MakeRoom Wellington and Consumer NZ ran sessions to empower Wellington residents to get more life out of their electrical goods and keep them out of landfill – good for the environment and for the wallet.
Over two evenings and a few hours the sessions packed in a lot. We covered consumer rights, tools and skills for repair, how to research a repair and how to identify when it is time to get professional help. The second session covered basic maintenance, three common household repairs and what we can do to advocate for our right to repair.
Each session presented loads of opportunity to get hand’s on to build confidence and familiarity with tools. Our participants of all ages had a blast meeting new people, soldering, deconstructing and putting it all back together again. “Was so great just to have someone experienced look over my shoulder while I had a crack - makes me confident I can try it on my own soon”.
We’ll be running the workshops again later in 2023 with the addition of a dedicated workshop focusing on deconstruction, these are accessible to the whole family.
This workshop was made possible thanks to Wellington City Council’s Waste Minimisation Fund and the Nikau Foundation.
Sustainability Trust is going to be adding a drop in repair space to our EcoCentre where our community can access tools and repair resources to empower people to have a crack. We’ll also be setting up a repair library for borrowing some of our tools and equipment to give repair a go at home.
Got something you want fixed right now? Keep an eye out for Repair Cafes across the region, including the ones we run, Ngaio, Upper Hutt and Raumati: https://www.repaircafeaotearoa.co.nz/repair-cafe-map
Want to start learning more practical skills? MakeRoom has a Stem Club for young makers and adult classes: https://makeroomwellington.nz/
Want to take some action to show our Government that you want products you can repair? Sick of wasting money on products you can’t repair? Let’s put the pressure back on manufacturers to do better. Show them you want products you can repair, and help us demand a mandatory repairability label. Help us demand a mandatory repairability label by signing ConsumerNZ’s petition: https://campaigns.consumer.org.nz/right-to-repair
