How Team Repair change kids relationship with tech

We speak to Megan Hale, co-founder of the Hackney Wick-based startup tackling the e-waste crisis

Megan (right) with co-founders Anaïs Engelmann and Oscar Jones

“Team Repair is a circular business dedicated to tackling the e-waste crisis by fostering a repair mindset in the next generation. We achieve this through resources for schools, collaborations with businesses, and—most recently—a new at-home subscription service, just in time for Christmas.

Our programme gives young people the chance to open up real gadgets, instilling curiosity about how things work and offering a hands-on way to explore STEM concepts beyond the classroom.

We founded Team Repair three years ago while finishing our Engineering degrees at Imperial. Growing up, we loved tinkering with broken gadgets, which taught us to fix instead of replace. Team Repair was born out of a desire to recreate those experiences for today’s children. We moved to Mainyard Studios a few months ago and have loved working in Hackney Wick so far.

Our mission is to address the global e-waste crisis, where 60 million tonnes are discarded annually. Staying true to this, we designed our programme to be entirely circular, ensuring that the learning experience doesn't contribute to the problem we're trying to solve.

With our Fixers Club subscription service, children receive a new gadget to repair every three months. By this point, most kids have lost interest in their toys anyway. They simply return the gadget using a prepaid label, and we send out their next repair challenge. This process helps them associate returning items with something positive—like receiving their next exciting project—and encourages an early understanding of circular solutions.

We find there are two significant challenges: managing inventory and ensuring product returns. When we piloted the at-home service last year, we underestimated the effort needed to get customers to send gadgets back after their rental period. Initially, we relied on goodwill, but with no late fees or incentives, so returns were inconsistent. During a second pilot, we introduced a late fee, which ensured every item was returned on time. We’ll likely continue refining this approach, as influencing customer behaviour is a unique challenge for circular businesses.

 Inventory management is another hurdle. Once gadgets are returned, there’s a detailed process of quality checks, storage, and tracking multiple components. Each part must be accounted for, inspected, and prepped for reuse, which requires robust systems to avoid bottlenecks.

For inventory, intuitive and efficient digital stock management systems are essential. Unfortunately, many existing platforms aren’t tailored to the complexities of circular models, making them cumbersome. An ideal solution would seamlessly integrate with the physical processes, but so far, we haven’t found one that meets all our needs.

Although we’ve only recently moved into our base at Mainyard Studios, we’ve already been energised by the wider creative and entrepreneurial spirit here in Hackney Wick. Being surrounded by other small businesses has been inspiring, and the sense of community here has been a great source of support as we continue to grow Team Repair.

There’s just one week left to order Team Repair’s at-home subscription for Christmas! Visit www.team.repair to learn more.