Making repair the first choice for Londoners with broken electrical appliances

Dr Marco Aurisicchio Researchers at Imperial are analysing the reasons people don't get their gadgets repaired, and suggesting measures to change their minds. Repairing broken household electrical devices rather than throwing them away has all kinds of environmental benefits. There is less waste, obviously, but you also save all the energy, materials and emissions involved in making a replacement, to say nothing of the emissions and congestion involved in transporting it to the consumer. London's councils are keen to encourage repair as an option, but working out how best to do that is not straightforward. So they have turned to the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial for help. Dr Marco Aurisicchio and undergraduate student Elliott Latham have been analysing the barriers that prevent repair and enablers that would help people to get over them. The initial findings of this work, carried out on an independent basis through Imperial Consultants , will be presented today to an audience of local authorities and other stakeholders attending the One World Living (OWL) programme annual conference, part of London's Circular Economy Week.