enfinium, a leading UK energy from waste operator, today announces that the second year of its Repair Café Support Fund has supported a further 15 Repair Cafés across England and Wales to help repair household items and reduce waste.
Launched in March 2024, the Repair Café Support Fund was established to support community-led Repair Cafés near to enfinium’s facilities in West Yorkshire, North Wales, Kent and the West Midlands. The fund helps these initiatives repair household items for free, reduce waste being sent to landfill, save residents money on repairs, enable people to keep hold of cherished items for longer, and help drive forward circularity within local communities.
At the end of its second year, the initiative has committed over £18,800 in funding to support the work of 15 Repair Cafés across England and Wales. This now takes the total figure of grant funding allocated to Repair Cafés to over £35,000.
The 15 beneficiary Repair Cafés have collectively repaired over 3,700 faulty household items this year. This has included bringing back to life once-thought-lost memories, such as a projector that showed footage of one attendee at a religious ceremony in 1965 that they had never seen. Other repairs included important comforts, such as a teddy bear that belonged to a young Ukrainian refugee that had taken the toy with him all the way to the United Kingdom and that had recently become damaged.
Some Repair Cafés have allocated their funding to promote repair among younger audiences. For example, the Tunbridge Wells Repair Café is launching a new ‘Repair Academy’ to engage young people between the ages of 12 to 14 years old and teach them skills in repairing textiles, electricals, jewellery, ceramics and more. The initiative aims to inspire the next generation to value repair, reuse, and circular thinking.
Other Repair Cafés have looked to professionalise their offering, with Colwyn Bay Repair Café in Denbighshire using its funding to invest in technology to digitalise sign- in processes that help improve attendee flow, to purchasing a tool storage system to better organise shared equipment to reduce downtime during repairs.
enfinium’s Repair Café Support Fund will reopen again for funding applications on 1 January 2026 and run until 31 May 2026.
Mike Maudsley, CEO at enfinium, said: “This has been yet another hugely successful year for the Repair Café Support Fund, with yet more grants helping these important initiatives to thrive. More than 3,700 items have been repaired by 15 Repair Cafés, a powerful testament to the impact of community repair in keeping valuable materials in use and helping to drive forward circularity. We cannot wait to see what next year’s Repair Café Support Fund is set to offer.”
Louise Farnell, Treasury at the Silsden Repair Café, said “Thanks to enfinium and the Repair Café Support Fund, we’ve been able to welcome even more people through our door this year. The funding has helped us fix everything from vacuum cleaners to kettles, helping keep waste out of landfill and in use for longer. The funding makes a big difference in our community.”
Phoebe Brown, Director at Repair Cafe Wales, said: “The enfinium Repair Café Support Fund is helping community Repair Cafés across North Wales keep valuable materials in use for longer, while supporting people to learn practical repair skills. We look forward to seeing what next year’s Fund has to offer North Wales.”
About enfinium
enfinium is a leading UK energy from waste operator with four operational sites in the UK, in West Yorkshire, Kent and Flintshire, and two in construction. enfinium diverts 2.7 million tonnes of unrecyclable waste from climate-damaging landfill, putting it to good use by turning it into home grown energy, enough to power 600,000 UK homes. enfinium’s ambition is to transform its facilities into local ‘decarbonisation hubs’ powered by the millions of tonnes of unrecyclable waste the UK will produce for decades to come. Using existing energy from waste infrastructure, enfinium could contribute to heat networks, produce electrolytic hydrogen, or use carbon capture technology to provide durable, high quality carbon removals which will be critical for the UK to achieve net zero by 2050. For more on enfinium, please visit www.enfinium.co.uk.
About the enfinium Repair Café Support Fund
Launched in March 2024, the enfinium Repair Café Support Fund was established to support community-led Repair Cafés near to enfinium’s facilities. Eligible Repair Cafés, within a 30-mile radius of one of enfinium’s facilities in Kent, North Wales (applications welcome from the regions of; Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd and the Isle of Anglesey), West Yorkshire, or the West Midlands, can apply for funding of up to £1,500 per annum before the May 2025 deadline. To learn more the Repair Café Support Fund, or apply for funding, please visit the project website Repair Café or email communityfunding@enfinium.co.uk.
