Village repair café open this Saturday

A repair café will be set up in Bracebridge Heath during E-Waste Action Week this weekend. 

Building on last year’s success, the week is returning to North Kesteven from May 16-23 with an expanded programme including drop-off points around the district, which the organisers hope will have a bigger impact this year,

North Kesteven residents will be encouraged to donate mobile phones, laptops, tablets and cables, which will be refurbished and redistributed to people in need, or recycled securely.

Electronic waste - E-Waste - consists of all those electrical and electronic items we discard, including cables, which millions of us stash in drawers and cupboards. It’s estimated there are up to 880 million unwanted devices and cables in UK homes. These items are packed with useful materials that could be reused, lessening the environmental damage caused by mining raw materials.

Council Leader Cllr Richard Wright said: “The response to the Action Week last year was fantastic, and helping bring devices and resources back into use is making a real difference to the environment. It was incredible to see the huge pile of cables and devices that were brought along – we’re hoping to see just as much participation this year.

“We’re aiming to not only rescue more unwanted devices, but also to learn about why we tend to hoard these items. If we can help people to deal with their waste more effectively and have the confidence to dispose of e-waste responsibly, then we’re really pleased to do so.

“It was really important to us to grow the event beyond the Sleaford area, with more drop-off points and a Repair Café event for the north of the District. So, this is a call-out to people all around NK to dig out their devices and bring them along!” 

At the event in 2025, which was focused on Sleaford, 73 laptops, more than 390 phones and tablets, and 220kg of cables were donated. All devices were data-wiped and reset to protect the original user’s information. Older devices such as those on 3G signals or where operating systems could not be updated, were sent to charities in Ghana and Ukraine where the technology is still used, for example in education and training. Any remaining items were securely destroyed and the materials recycled.

All the items that could be refurbished are being distributed to local people and good causes.

Councillor Lindsey Cawrey, NKDC’s Member Climate Champion, said: “I’m excited to hear there’s a Repair Café at Bracebridge Heath – which is in my ward. I’ve attended repair cafés before and had items fixed, so I’m really supportive of them and how they benefit community and environment.

“It’s much better for the environment to try and get items repaired, or to pass them on for reuse, than it is to only throw away and buy new. We’re all familiar with the saying ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, but the full phrase includes ‘repair’. I hope this action week will encourage us all to focus on that.”

The repair café will take place at Bracebridge Heath Village Hall on Saturday, May 16 between 12.30pm and 3.30pm.

During E-Waste Action Week, residents can: 

• donate working or broken laptops, tablets, phones and cables at the drop-off points or Repair Café events (details on the council website)
• take broken items to the repair café to see if they can be repaired and saved
• take any working electricals to charity shops (listed on the council website) that accept them so they can be resold
• sell or give away electricals to friends and family, or via online sites
• learn about how to safely dispose of E-Waste properly all year round.

Visit www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/e-waste for more information.