The circular economy is built from the ground up. RREUSE connects European policy to national networks, and national networks connect to the local organisations where the real work happens; where a donated sewing machine gets a second life, where a volunteer learns a skill they'll carry for years, where a community becomes a little more self-sufficient and a little less wasteful.
One example comes from Northern Ireland where our member Northern Ireland Resources Network (NIRN) facilitated via their Circular Resource Library a collaborative skill-sharing project between Repair & Share Foyle (R&SF) and Tools for Solidarity (TFS) delivering measurable environmental, educational, and global social impacts.
Repair & Share Foyle (R&SF) was established in Derry City in May 2022 as a community repair café. Over time, it expanded into a permanent premises housing a Library of Things alongside several ongoing sustainability projects. Seeking to continuously improve its services, R&SF partnered with Tool For Solidarity -a Belfast and Downpatrick-based non-profit supporting global communities -in July 2025 to add specialised technical repair training to its repertoire.
Expert TFS trainers delivered practical workshops to upskill R&SF volunteers in repairing and maintaining donated sewing machines, placing reuse, repair, and community education at the core of the project.
Thanks to the partnership R&SF volunteers upskilled without financial expense, while TFS received refurbished equipment and workshop facilitation support. To add some numbers to the picture:
44 members participated in the initiative and learned basic repair techniques.
35 sewing machines were collected from the local community.
28 sewing machines were successfully repaired.
20 repaired machines were donated to TFS to empower overseas communities.
This partnership now provides a scalable model for regional networks to replicate across other technical fields, such as electrical repair and PAT testing.
