Public urged to reduce their electrical waste to mark NI Repair Week
4 March 2025
Derry City and Strabane District Council and Repair and Share Foyle are highlighting ways to repair household electrical items and keep them out of landfill as part of NI Repair Week.
Events, workshops and tutorials are being hosted across Northern Ireland to celebrate Repair Week from March 3rd to 9th and encourage people to consider repairing their old items and learning the skills needed to do it.
This was one of over 40 projects funded by Material Focus, the not-for-profit leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, who provided £30,502 to support this project as part of their Electricals Recycling Fund.
Locally, a repair cafe will be held this weekend at the Repair and Share Foyle Headquarters in Rathmore Business Park.
A successful repair café event also took place at the weekend in Strabane’s Fountain Centre.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr, urged the public to consider ways they can reduce their own electrical waste.
“Electrical waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world,” she noted. “Many household items such as handheld fans, electric toothbrushes, smart phones, TVs and white goods are presenting longevity and repairability challenges.
“Many of these items can be repaired or used for parts which keeps them in use for longer rather than committing them to landfill.
“The workshops being hosted locally this week are an opportunity to learn more about safely repairing some of those items which can benefit the environment and your pocket by saving you money on purchasing replacement items.”
Repair and Share Foyle launched their first repair café in 2022 and are led almost entirely by volunteers.
They have embraced waste head on by sharing skills and resources in the community, including the North West’s first tools and equipment library the ‘Library of Things’.
The group accept donations of small working household electricals for their ‘rehome your electricals’ campaign and encourage community groups to sign up as redistribution partners.
"We are pleased to support Switch to Repair that addresses the pressing issue of e-waste.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus. "By investing in improved collection and drop-off services and exploring new
recycling, reuse and repair methods, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more sustainable future by making it easier for 10 million more people to recycle their electricals."
In addition to small household electricals, Repair and Share Foyle’s in-house ‘Laptop Doctors’ have been collecting unwanted laptops from drop-off points across the district.
The laptops are professionally wiped of data before being given a new lease of life and a new battery or charger.
Caroline McGuinness-Brooks, Managing Director, explained more about their service: “If you or someone in your community is in need of say a kettle, a lamp, a hoover, your local community organisation can make a request to us for a donation of such an item if we have it in stock,” she said.
“Anything with a plug, battery, or cable can and should be recycled.
“Donated items can be dropped off to our workshop at the RathMor Business Park Monday through to Saturday or during Repair Café events.”
To learn more and stay up to date with Repair and Share Foyle, you can subscribe to their e-newsletter via their website at linktr.ee/repairandsharefoyle
The Repair Cafe will take place this Saturday March 8th at Repair and Share’s premises in Rathmore from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Items that can be fixed include small household electricals, laptops, textiles and leather, toys, sewing machines and small pieces of furniture.
Unwanted laptops can be dropped off at the Foyle Hospice Furniture Outlet, the Guildhall, Eglinton Community Centre, Waterside Shared Village, Strahans Road Recycling Centre and the Alley Theatre.
Full details about how NI Repair Week is being marked locally are available at derrystrabane.com/repair.