Residents in Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk, are being invited to help design new community-led workshops where they can learn how to fix and upcycle their old clothes. The consultation was launched by Norfolk Recycles (the public-facing brand of the Norfolk Waste Partnership), with support from Norfolk County Council, to find out what skills people want to learn—such as darning or using a sewing machine—to help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
These sessions are intended to help local families save money during the cost-of-living crisis while helping Norfolk meet national recycling requirements that come into effect at the end of March 2026 under the government’s ‘Simpler Recycling’ changes. Organisers are looking for feedback on where the workshops should be held and what times would work best, with the Dussindale Community Centre (home of the Dussindale Community Fridge) and Roxley Hall currently being considered as potential main locations for the pilot project.
The consultation launched on 19 January 2026 and feedback is being accepted until 28 February 2026. People living in the area can share their ideas through the Norfolk County Council Citizen Space online portal or by attending ‘Design Your Workshop’ pop-up events taking place across February 2026. Thorpe St Andrew Town Council is also encouraging retired textile workers and hobbyist menders in the NR7 area to volunteer as repair experts to teach others how to mend broken zips, repair seams or upcycle garments.
The project follows successful repair and reuse pop-up events in nearby towns (for example, single-day events in Brundall and Diss in 2025 that each diverted over two tonnes of textiles from landfill). Reports show that less than 1% of used textiles are recycled back into new clothing globally; in the UK around 350,000 tonnes of clothing are discarded in the household waste stream each year, which is why local repair skills are seen as a vital part of cutting down waste in the community.
