The concept follows the success of other London Fixing Factories in Brent and Camden where local residents were able to get appliances fixed, learn repair skills and take part in weekly repair workshops.
The Hackney site is the first of three new factories due to open across London thanks to £1.27 million in funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.
The programme is being run by climate charities Possible and the Restart Project.
The factories are designed to empower local communities by teaching people repair skills and saving them money by giving broken products a second lease of life.
The charities said that their experience has shown that even minimal exposure to repair leads to increased awareness and confidence to fix items.
The project has already engaged nearly 1,000 people in community repair sessions, saving over three tonnes of e-waste and 53 tonnes of CO2e over the last two years.
Shelini Kotecha, Fixing Factory lead at Restart, said: “We are thrilled to have launched another Fixing Factory, building on the success of the Fixing Factory in Camden.
“We are especially delighted that this is just the first of three new locations due to open, ensuring that people who want to fix their electricals rather than throwing them away can do so.
“The level of community interest we’ve seen already has been huge, and the ability to bring affordable repair to London’s streets is key to tackling the growing e-waste within the UK. Our vision is to have a Fixing Factory on every high street in the UK, making repair accessible, affordable and the new normal.”
The Hackney Fixing Factory has been officially opened by councillor Sarah Young in a ribbon cutting ceremony today (23 April 2025), attended by local residents, volunteers and community groups.
Young said: “I am so pleased to welcome a brand new Fixing Factory into Hackney. We all need to do more to reduce our waste and offer more opportunities to fix our broken appliances rather than just throwing them away and this project is the perfect way to do that.
“I have no doubt that many Hackney residents will be making good use of this new Fixing Factory location and hopefully there will be a number of budding fixers in the borough in no time.”
WEEE is the fastest growing waste stream across the world, with the UK being the second highest producer per capita.
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