Blocket helps users repair old things

A third of the Swedish population don’t mend things when they break. A main reason is that they don’t know how.
Now Blocket is helping them out.

The amount of things we throw away every year just keep getting bigger. At the same time we buy more new things than ever before. That’s why Blocket made the book ”Bättre begagnat” – a guide on how to take care of and mend things.

”This is to care for our children’s future”, says Pernilla Nissler, CEO of Blocket.

To previous generations, it was obvious to repair and take care of the things you got. Today, many choose to buy new things instead. Every year people in Sweden throw away some 4.5 million tonnes of waste. When it comes to clothes, the average is 7.5 kilos per person and year. At the same time we buy 12.5 kilos of new clothes per person and year. Our environmental impact is clearly related to how we consume. And considering how much new things we buy per year, a transition to a more sustainable consumption is an important issue for our climate.

A survey conducted by Kantar Sifo shows that a third of Sweden’s population do not mend their things when something breaks (34 percent), and a big reason why is simply because they don’t have the knowledge of how. At the same time, nine out of ten (93 percent) think it is important to know how to mend and care for clothes and things. Many people are also interested in learning more about how to care and repair, especially young people between 18 and 29 years old. These insights made Blocket launch the book ”Bättre begagnat”, a guide on how to take care of and mend things and clothing – to make it possible for more people to extend the life of their belongings.

”The second-hand trade on Blocket saves approximately 730.000 tonnes of CO2 annually, which corresponds to the amount of emissions that all traffic in Stockholm causes for ten months. We hope that the book will help more people to extend the life of their possessions, whether the purpose is to keep them or resell”, says Pernilla Nissler.

”This is one of the most inspiring books we have ever published. from an environmental perspective second-hand is almost always better than new”, says Jeppe Wikström, at the publisher Max Ström.

As a digital extension to the book, Blocket has also recently launched Blocket TV on Youtube, where you can find tangible filmed guides on how to carve together your very own outdoor table, change tires on the bike, draw new electricity in a lamp or learn to sew ­pillowcases from an old tent.