Repairing goods

In recent years, the repair of goods has reduced for a number of reasons, such as cheaper products, the pace of technological change and the complexity of products. But repair is an essential part of moving to a circular economy. Repair must once again become convenient and cost-effective. Both manufacturers and users can and should support repair, and also remanufacturing - see our remanufacturing page.

If you are a manufacturer

How supporting repair or providing a repair service can benefit your business

• Adds value to your business’ offer to customers
• Generates new revenue streams
• Enhances your brand loyalty
• Enables your customer to reduce material and other input costs
• Enables your customer to gain greater value from their own materials and products

Manufacturer - what you must do

• If the products that you are repairing have been discarded and are waste, then you must ensure that you comply with your duty of care. You may need a waste management licence, or to register an exemption from waste management licensing.
• Ensure you comply with any relevant health and safety regulations: check with the Health and Safety Executive or the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland. For your safety, follow safety repair procedures - for example,  safety in electrical testing – service and repair of audio, TV and computer equipment.
• Check our pages to ensure you comply with all relevant environmental regulations.

Manufacturer - what you can do

• Design products for a longer lifetime and which are supported by a guarantee and trusted repair services
• Design products ready to be disassembled and economically repaired.
• Provide or set up a repair service - see for example, Nudie Jeans - a global repair service for jeans -, and  Findra's clothing repair service.
• Cut your costs by borrowing / sharing repair tools - for example you can borrow tools at Edinburgh Tool Library.

If you are buying goods or have an item needing repair - what you can do

• Before buying new, check for a local repair service - find someone locally (see list of resources below, search online or look in your phonebook):
  NI Direct: Cutting waste, reusing and repairing, and donating
  R:evolve Recycle: Clothing - alterations and repair, swap and reuse (Scotland)
• For bigger repair jobs use a reputable local tradesman.
• In your procurement policy, include criteria about purchasing repaired products and about purchasing products that can be repaired.
• Learn repair skills, for example through Edinburgh Remakery's online repair workshops.
• Cut your costs by borrowing / sharing repair tools. For example, in Edinburgh use the Edinburgh Tool Library.
• Take part in campaigns for goods to be built to last.