We’ve just released a set of new educational resources that help us open our electronics and open our eyes to the raw materials inside that we are simply throwing away. Even when we recycle electronics, most of these “critical raw materials” are not getting recouped.
Designer Forrest Radford, who attended a Restart Party while a student five years ago, is now launching a repair-related Kickstarter campaign. He remembers “In less than an hour David had shown me the dusty guts of my Mac, we cleaned it out and put it back together; it booted like new.”
Problems with the electronics and appliances are endemic, and industry is increasingly taking away our right to repair products, let alone making better products. We’re tired of the “take, make and dispose” economy, and there is a role for regulation. Enter Europe.
We’ve repaired for over five years in our communities. Now we are witnessing worrying developments, including the emergence of products that are simply — and unnecessarily — disposable. Some are even single-use.
The pinking of gadgets, the most visible attempt at “gendering” of gadgets, seems to obscure the more subtle gender-biases built into others. Participate in our Twitter chat about this
People overwhelmingly value battery life over “thin”. Numerous studies have backed the idea that people want battery life more than any other “innovation”. So why do manufacturers seem to sideline this straight-forward desire in favour of “thin”?
This is guest post by Steve Parkinson, co-founder of Teach Design, a group of Design and Technology teachers. He talks about the opportunities for collaboration with The Restart Project in the classroom.
People love to get their gadgets fixed. There is absolutely no doubt about it. But what we would like to more clearly demonstrate the environmental benefits to repairing.