Good practice:

Online Guide for Repair Shops

Although there is a large number of repair shops for carrying out repairs in the field of electric/electronic appliances, furniture, textiles, bicycles, musical instruments etc., they are far too little known to the public. Already in 2000, the Waste Management Department/Styrian Regional Government published a "Repair and Service Manual" that also contains a list of Styrian repair shops in the appendix. In order to meet the requirements for more comfort and topicality of the provided data, the Styrian online repair guide was newly created in 2012 (update plus web-app: 2016). The technical development of the online platform was carried out in cooperation with ATM-Abfallwirtschaft Tirol Mitte GmbH. Subsequently, further federal provinces have joined the online repair guide, which is currently used in seven of nine Austrian federal states. The use of it is free of charge both for the repair shops offering their services and for people seeking repair services. It is divided into 12 categories and a number of sub-categories. All shops are integrated in Google Maps and can be searched via this map. The technical operation is carried out by ATM and financed by the participating federal states. Each of the participating federal is responsible for data updating and quality assurance. In Styria, the Styrian Waste Advisors Association, the Waste Management Associations, and the Styrian economic chamber are stakeholders. Beneficiaries are both the repair shops and the interested public.

3 essential points have to be considered:
a) Setup of a new or expanding of an existing online system. Styria: carried out by external partners.
b) Technical updates/maintenance. Styria: carried out by external partners.
c) Data maintenance and data entries. Styria: ca. 100 working hours pa.

The total number of repair service offers across all categories entered in the Styrian online repair-guide is ca. 1,900. During the 5-month funding period of the "Repair Premium Styria" in 2019, the number of repair shops for electric and electronic household appliances listed in the online guide has doubled to about 500, with ca. 1,300 repairs of household electric and electronic appliances being funded. This resulted in great benefits at reasonable costs.

Media support is of particular importance as this is the most effective way to reach a high number of potential users. This was last achieved in Styria with the 2019 repair promotion campaign "Repair Premium Styria" . High priority must also be given to data maintenance and quality assurance.

Simply accessible and up-to-date information for the general public on where to find repair services is a key element for the sustainable establishment of the re-use sector. The concept of this online guide can easily be transferred to other regions. Transfer/expansion from the initiating partners to other Austrian federal states has already taken place.