7th Mar 2025
Social Value in Repair and Reuse
Should we all be mending our broken belongings? Does creating a culture of repair help communities and our planet thrive? Is it actually important to repair? Following their research on the significant potential in the UK repair economy, our research partner, the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, investigates the Social Value of repair and reuse in a new report titled ‘Social Value: Creation and measurement in the repair and reuse sector’.
The Institute of Making has long been a home for growing and developing people’s repair and reuse skills, building a happy community of menders in the process. The research explores why it is important to understand and measure this non-monetary social value, discussing the frameworks and tools that can help organisations and communities to showcase it and how this can lead to more repair and reuse activities across the country.
The positive outcomes of repair & reuse
In the report, repair and reuse activities were linked to a whole host of positive outcomes – from mental health benefits to employment opportunities. The positive outcomes can be grouped into the four main themes:
Growth: more opportunities for local small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) to grow.
Social, wellbeing and health: more people involved in the community and the social inclusion that this brings.
Jobs and employment: increased direct, local employment for local people.
The environment: repairing electronics and electricals leads to reduced CO2 emissions and dangerous waste, helping to slow climate change, whilst also meaning that less things end up in landfills and unregulated waste streams which endanger human and planetary health.
The importance of repair & reuse: Globally, and at the Institute
With the global electronic equipment market expected to nearly double by 2030, an invaluable opportunity is also presented: Governments could champion repair and reuse in public procurement through the Social Value Act.
At the Institute of Making, we champion mending in various forms – for example, through teaching members how to darn holes in beloved clothing or to fix broken suitcase handles with polymorph. By teaching these skills at our events, in specialist masterclasses and the general workshop, the true positive impact of repair and reuse is felt, leaving many members with a feeling of accomplishment. Many also leave empowered to fix other broken items, and with a hunger for passing on these skills to others; helping to build a community of like-minded makers who inspire, teach and motivate each other through making, mending and repurposing.
Continue your reuse & repair journey
Read the full report here.
Inspired to get involved with the repair and reuse movement? Sign up to our newsletter (linked in footer) for updates on future Repair Cafes to learn about the breadth and depth of mending.
Interested in reading more about the value of repair? Explore this theme further by reading our previous research blog, ‘New research reveals significant potential in the UK repair economy.’