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Dare to Repair

Dare to Repair: The Right to Repair

The Right to Repair

BBC Radio 4 - Dare to Repair, The Right to Repair

Exploring how citizens are fighting back for the right to repair their own stuff.

Repair is coming on the agenda now for many electronics manufacturers, but the model tends to be that they will do the repairs. Why can’t we repair our own stuff if we want to?

Many electronics manufacturers are making it harder and harder for individuals and independent repairers to fix their broken kit. There are claims that programmed obsolescence is alive and well, with mobile phone batteries designed to wear out after just 400 charges. The manufacturers say it's for safety or security reasons, but it drives the consumer model of constant replacement and upgrades. But people are starting to fight back. Mark Miodownik talks to the fixers and repairers who are heading up the Right to Repair movement which is forcing governments to act and making sustainability and value for money part of the consumer equation. He goes online for help replacing his broken mobile phone screen and dead battery and finds out how easy it is to dare to repair.

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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Science & Nature

Exploring how UK citizens have become the worst consumers in Europe of single-use goods.

UK citizens are the worst consumers in Europe for buying single-use, irreparable goods. Material scientist Professor Mark Miodownik explores how we got to this unsustainable state.

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