Restart Radio: from repairing bikes to smartphones

On our show this week, we talked about connections between Restarters and repairing bikes.

We spoke to longtime Restarter Ten, who shared the story of his legendary repair of a vintage coffee grinder in Herne Hill market. Ten was joined in the studio by another of our committed volunteers, Dave. They share a passion for fixing and for bicycles, so we discussed the difference between repairing bikes, which use standard, interchangeable spare parts and laptops and mobiles, which rarely do.

While recalling two smartphone battery replacements at the recent Restart Party at Remakery in Brixton, for the first time we had an unannounced guest appearance from Joseph, Resonance 104.4 FM‘s sound engineer, sharing his experience taking apart his mobile phone to change its battery.

We then discussed two bits of news: a (now fixed) bug in the iOS Facebook app, quickly draining the battery of iPhones, and increasing doubts about over the viability of the current system for recycling electronics, as well as alternatives to reuse parts of no-longer repairable devices.

For background reading, in order of our discussion:

• The Facebook app is draining your iOS device’s battery and Facebook’s official response and fix
• Fall in metal prices leads to concerns over the cost of recycling WEEE
• Our advice on what to do when a device is no longer repairable
• Green Festival of Repair and Mending in Leicester

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