MANY people have carried out household clear outs during the pandemic.

Clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, and toys. We throw away vast amounts of stuff. There are many things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair. Of course, repair is not a new idea. We are familiar with the ethic of ‘make do and mend’. However, knowing how to make repairs is a skill that seems to have been lost.

Community reuse and recycling organisations across Glasgow are developing our appreciation for the people who still have this practical knowledge and are valuing their experience.

The Remade Network has created 10 new full-time jobs in the repair and refurbishment of computers and household goods.

Unwanted equipment has supported a digital inclusion project giving refugees, single parents, youth groups, school children and others refurbished desktop computers. This week, they launched a new shop and handed out the 1,000th computer.

Across the city, there are other initiatives including Repair Café Glasgow, Glasgow Tool Library, and The Pram Project, where people take their broken things, share tools and get expert guidance on how to fix them. Through Repair Cafes, local communities can gain the skills and tools to repair, upgrade and customise their belongings.

We need to see more focus put into repair and reuse. This support can ensure valuable practical knowledge, creativity and skills are getting passed on within local communities. As a way to reduce landfill, it is viable to develop repair education to help people learn the skills that they lack.

As a part of our learning from the pandemic, we can encourage a culture of repair and reuse, and boost confidence in second-hand goods markets.

Scottish Greens support a Green New Deal to invest in sustainable jobs and enterprise.

Through a green recovery can provide opportunities to ensure people can repair rather than throw away items.

Repair is shown to create 10 times as many jobs as recycling, and it seems the ideal model for creating quality local green new jobs as we navigate our way to a future beyond Covid-19.