Library of Things

All of our things come with safety equipment and how to use guides included to help people use our tools safely and confidently.

We have public liability insurance like any other rental company which provides cover to the individual who has hired the item and any damage caused to themselves or property.

We use the following assumptions derived from our 7 years of practice & research to calculate the amount of waste that a Library of Things saves:

• 1 in 4 rentals from Library of Things prevents a purchase (often from Amazon/ Argos)
• The average weight of items rented from LoT is 7kg
• 60% of users reuse, repair or recycle at least 2 additional items per year (based on the feedback that 60% of users tell us they are more likely to reuse, repair or recycle having used the service)
• Further waste has been prevented through our community repair parties and mending meet-ups. These paused due to the pandemic, but we're hoping to resume these soon where there is local interest.

Our conversations with council waste teams show that only ~20% of electrical and electronic waste is recycled. E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, and globally we're the second largest producer of this type of waste:

https://www.letsrecycle.com/.../uk-the-second-largest.../(External link)

Most of our users say they wouldn't use a commercial tool hire shop, with a common view being: 'it's expensive and it's not for me, it's for tradespeople'. As an example, Library of Things rents out Bosch power drill including bits at £6 per day (concession rate) or £8 per day (standard rate). You choose your rate.

HSS hires this tool out at £20+ per day, and you have to purchase drill bits separately (£15+) = £35 per use. Plus there's an upfront deposit (the equivalent of a 2 week hire fee), which is an additional barrier for many people.

We also do a lot of work to promote reuse, repair and recycling with local people – such as promoting green behaviours and hosting skills-sharing events (we were hosting repair parties/ sewing classes pre-pandemic, and are hoping to resume these types of things where there is local interest).

We also employ local people to work on our community marketing and item maintenance.

We’re trying to help as many people as possible to borrow, rather than buy. For many people this is only useful for them if the things they borrow are in great condition and up to the job.

We took the decision not to accept donations for a few reasons:

• Donated Things often only last a few borrows before breaking. This is a problem not only for us, creating a backlog of bookings, but imagine how frustrating it is for the person it breaks on.
• Donated Things don’t come with warranties. Meaning once they’re broken beyond simple repairs, they’re broken for good.
• We work in partnership with our suppliers to help them learn how to improve the design and build of their products so that they can live longer and be repaired - this is part of our mission to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill!

We want everyone to have a great experience with the Things they borrow. That’s why we build relationships directly with manufacturers and top brands like Bosch, STIHL and Kärcher to source high quality items.

These partnerships also mean that we can share feedback with manufacturers to help them design more sustainable products that can be repaired and are built to last.

Over the last 5 years, we've tested over 400 different Things with multiple communities across London to understand which Things people will borrow most. This helped us build a ‘starter kit’ of over 30 Things.

When we open in a new area, we ask our new neighbors to vote for the items they would find most useful from this selection. We regularly review our mix of Things in each kiosk and see where we can add new items. You can request new items for the library by voting in our wishlist.

When it comes to selecting Things, we have to think about a few things as well as demand. These include maintenance - whether an item is easy to share between borrowers - and storage - we only have limited space in our kiosks.

Library of Things is there for anyone to use. We want borrowing to be as accessible and affordable as possible. That’s why we offer a 25% concession rate for anyone who feels it would help them.

1. Visit www.libraryofthings.co.uk/browse(External link) to find the item you want, choose how long you’d like to borrow it for, and select your nearest library at the checkout stage.
2. Pop into your local library to collect your item, use it, then return it ready for the next neighbour to use.