Children and Researchers Challenge Throw-Away Culture

By Tor Bagger, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

Just a few weeks after the EU adopted the Right to Repair Directive on better options for repairing products, the first students are taking part in the new Repair Camp initiative. The goal is to give children and youth a greater understanding of how everyday products work and how they can often be repaired in the fight against the widespread throw-away culture.

What is a product made of? Where do the materials come from? How many resources are used to produce an item of clothing or a pair of headphones? If we are going to try to change consumption patterns, it is important to understand how everyday products work and what it means to maintain them or be able to repair them. But today, few people learn how the products we surround ourselves with actually work, and this means that when the toaster, computer, smartphone or washing machine breaks down, they are often just thrown away and replaced.

"Today, a lot of electronics are designed so that they can’t be taken apart. This applies to everything from small cheap bicycle lights to digital watches to washing machines. And when something can’t be taken apart, it means that it will be thrown away when it breaks down," explains Linda Nhu Laursen, Head of Research, Aalborg University Design Lab and organizer of the new Repair Camp initiative.

- We hope that the students who participate in our many camps will open their eyes to how important it is that we repair instead of throwing away and share their new knowledge with their parents and use it in their lives. Our preliminary studies show that some children don't even know that things can actually be repaired.

In the near future, Repair Camps will be held for more than 100 children and youth at schools where volunteers from Repair Café Denmark and the team from AAU Design Lab create a practical learning situation for kids. After testing the concept, the first real Repair Camp with 6.A will be held at Klostermarksskolen in Aalborg on Tuesday, 14 May. All students bring a product that is broken, and with the help of AAU Design Lab and volunteers from Repair Café Denmark, the students themselves get involved in how to repair certain products rather than just discarding them. Instead of bringing home a drawing, a bead board or a clay bowl, participants will instead be able to show their repair of the broken products to friends and family.

The need to repair instead of just discard is great. Over the past 20 years, Danes' consumption has increased significantly, and according to the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, a Dane throws away an average of 23.9 kg of electronic waste annually and buys more than 16 kg of clothes which is twice as much as in the year 2000.

"We need to be critical of our consumption and create a new trend where the broken, patinated and used is not ugly, but just has a different aesthetic, and where we appreciate the little hidden stories behind a product that has lasted a long time, or been repaired, or sewn into something else," Linda Nhu Laursen points out.

The challenge has also been recognized at the European level. At the end of April, the EU adopted the Right to Repair directive that places greater demands on companies regarding consumers' options for repairing products and requires that products must be easier to open and close. Over the next two years, the new EU rules will be implemented in the legislation of the individual countries.

The Repair Camp project is funded by the Spar Nord Foundation with DKK 400,000.

"With Repair Camps, we see a very concrete way of working on sustainability where schoolchildren together learn to take responsibility for the electronic products they surround themselves with. They will increase their awareness of the imprint the products leave on the planet and how their lifespan can be extended in practical terms. It’s a constructive way of equipping children, and a pragmatic approach to climate concerns, which we know – to some extent – also end up on kids’ shoulders," says Bo Uggerhøj, CEO, Spar Nord Foundation.