Repair as a vehicle for grassroots leadership in transition towards circular economy

Along with other European countries, the UK produces one of the largest quantities of e-waste per capita in the world. This is driven by excessive consumption and structural problems with recycling, though perhaps also indicates a lack of agency supporting effective personal and community participation in the transition towards circular economy (CE). This transition is predominantly driven by top-down legislation and regulation. CE discourse tends to focus on manufacturing systems and economic prosperity, rather than the social dimension relating to behavioural change, social impacts and implications. This paper reports initial insights from on-going initiatives by two community regeneration groups to develop localised repair infrastructure in Northeast England. Insights have been gained empirically through a design ethnography approach, and framed in respect of the under-explored social dimension of CE transition. Posi-tive impacts of the project are speculatively presented as rippling outwards through the thematic foci of the repaired object, the repairer, repairers and service users, and wider community. The ongoing inquiry indicates that repairing empowers individuals to take control of their own consumption; creates a locus for collective action and builds community; fosters the exchange of knowledge, skills, tools and time as a fuller spectrum of capitals, demonstrating the importance of bottom-up approaches in transition towards the circular economy.