EPA National Reuse and Repair Partnership

Funder: Environmental Protection Agency under the National Waste Prevention Programme

Duration: Jan – Dec 2023 (12 Months)

Lead on Project: Rediscovery Centre

Partners and Collaborators: Environmental Protection Agency, Community Resources Network, repairmystuff.ie 

Status: Open

Introduction:

The Rediscovery Centre has worked in partnership with the EPA since 2019 to support the transition to a circular economy.  In 2023, the partnership evolved in line with the objective in the EPA Circular Economy Programme to establish a new partnership to promote a national reuse & repair culture, and to overcome barriers to the take-up of pre-owned/refurbished goods and product repair. The partnership aims to deliver these objectives through supporting a range of activities, from awareness-raising to public engagement, events and research on reuse and repair.

Background:

There are many barriers to reuse and repair in Ireland. These include, for example, a lack of data, lack of capacity among organisations to grow reuse and repair activities to a low level of public awareness or engagement, gaps in repair and reuse skills and legislative and insurance liability barriers. Addressing these barriers will be essential in delivering a reuse and repair culture and meeting national reuse and repair targets.  

Objectives:

The Rediscovery Centre will support the following EPA partnership objectives in 2023:

• Building reuse and repair skills within the population
• Removing barriers to reuse and repair 
• Supporting effective communications on reuse and repair 

Next Steps:

Through the 2023 partnership, the Rediscovery Centre is working to deliver:

• Reporting on data to support national reuse accounting
• Delivering 8 x repair clinics and repair series workshops nationally
• Research into the insurance barrier to community repair  
• Support and mentoring to 10 x social enterprises delivering reuse and repair activities through the Circular Economy Academy
• Knowledge sharing and debate on key topics through 2 x Circular Economy Conversations, as well as newsletters, showcases, and dissemination of the European Right to Repair campaigns 

If you would like to find out more about the EPA partnership project, please contact us.