Happy Birthday Benthyg!

Borrow. Repair. Repeat:  

Wales, the World’s First Sharing Nation.

We’ll never forget where this started.

Before there was a national network or a manifesto, there was a local library on the brink of closure and a campaign to save it. That’s where our story begins: with people fighting to keep a space open because it mattered.

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At its heart, Benthyg Cymru was born from that same principle that access to the things we need shouldn’t depend on how much we earn. This whole journey started because one of us couldn’t afford a lawnmower. And that simple, everyday reality sparked a much bigger question: What if everyone could borrow what they need, when they need it, instead of having to own it?

Because this isn’t about taking things away or some kind of anti-ownership ideology, it’s about fairness, common sense, and possibility. It’s about realising that we already have everything we need, sitting unused in cupboards, garages, and public buildings.  

Wouldn’t you rather spend your money on a holiday with your loved ones than a pressure washer you’ll use once a year?

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A Sharing Nation

Five years later, Wales isn’t just home to a few community projects. We’re home to a national network, a Sharing Nation, built by people who believe in access over ownership, community over consumption, and collaboration over competition.

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Benthyg Cymru leads this movement as the world’s first national network of Libraries of Things, connecting more than 35 community borrowing hubs across Wales (and counting). Together, we’ve made over 25,000 borrows, saved more than 290,000 kg of carbon, and saved borrowers over £600,000.

There are now six times more Libraries of Things per capita in Wales than anywhere else in the UK.  

That’s not coincidence, that’s leadership.

We know and will never forget that behind every number is a story. A family able to camp for the first time. A student fixing their bike instead of scrapping it. A neighbourhood hosting its first street party with borrowed gazebos. Each borrow saves money, cuts waste, and builds confidence, proving that sharing works, and Wales is leading the way.

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Wales Is Building What the World Is Talking About

There’s talk of sharing cities, but we’re building a Sharing Nation!

From Cardiff to Caernarfon, communities are proving that sharing can be woven into daily life, through Libraries of Things, lockers, mobile borrowing vans, and community hubs that make access easy for everyone.

We’re not following a global trend, we’re setting one. Wales is showing the world how to turn circular economy theory into real-world change. What we’re building isn’t a project, it’s national infrastructure for fairness and sustainability.  

Borrow. Repair. Repeat.

Our shared call to action is simple and bold: Borrow. Repair. Repeat.

Because borrowing and repairing aren’t “nice extras” they’re essential social infrastructure. They save money for families, cut waste for the planet, and strengthen the ties that make communities resilient, and even better its climate justice! We’re not taking away from your life we’re adding to it!

By 2030, we want every person in Wales to have access to a local borrowing point within easy reach on high streets, in libraries, schools, and community spaces. We’re embedding borrowing into public services, regeneration, and climate action doing it the Welsh way: collaboratively, creatively, and with people at the centre.

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What We Mean by a Sharing Nation

When we say Sharing Nation, we mean a Wales where everyone, everywhere, has access to what they need when they need it, not just the things we need though the things that bring us joy and bring us together with our neighbours.

And it’s underpinned by something truly world-class: a connected data system that proves sharing works. Benthyg Cymru holds the data of a whole nation thousands of borrows, and stories that show the environmental, social, and economic value of sharing.

We’re platform agnostic, whether the sharing project uses Lend Engine, MyTurn, or something else, it all connects through us. Our network gives Wales something unique:

A single, national dataset showing how sharing changes lives.

But a Sharing Nation is about more than tools and tents. It’s a vision for how we use public resources more wisely how councils, schools, and public bodies can share what they already have, cut waste, and use what we’ve got before buying more.

We’re not tinkering around the edges. We’re doing the work bringing together people with different systems, needs, and capacities, and showing how collaboration builds resilience. And because we track and report on the impact, we can prove that this isn’t just a nice idea it’s a working model for a fairer future.

That’s what it means to be a Sharing Nation: connected, creative, fair and leading the world.

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Policy and Partnerships: Vision Turned Into Reality

None of this would have been possible without shared vision and partnership.

The Welsh Government’s Beyond Recycling strategy laid the foundations for a more circular, community-driven economy one where reuse, repair, and sharing are recognised as essential infrastructure and driven by communities. Benthyg Cymru’s work directly contributes to this national ambition, showing what it looks like in practice: community-led, data-driven, and rooted in fairness.

Our partnership with organisations like Repair Café Wales, local authorities, and grassroots groups across every region has proven what can happen when policy meets people power. Together, we’ve demonstrated that collaboration not competition builds systems that last.

From high-level strategy to hands-on community action, this alignment of vision, leadership, and lived experience is what makes Wales’ approach unique. It’s why funders, governments, and global networks are looking to Wales as the model to follow.

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Leading the Way in a Changing World

Benthyg Cymru’s approach is being recognised across the UK and beyond as a blueprint for systemic change blending environmental goals with social justice. We’re building not just a network, but a movement infrastructure for a new kind of economy.

• Borrowing has increased dramatically since 2021.

• More than 12,000 people have borrowed an item in that time.

• Thousands of volunteers have contributed time and skills

When we talk about the circular economy, this is what it looks like not just recycling more, but reshaping how we live, share, and care for one another. Wales isn’t just part of the conversation we’re leading it.

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A Call to Action: Who’s With Us?

Wales has always led with heart and community. From the first co-ops and miners’ institutes to the Libraries of Things of today, we’ve shown that progress happens when people come together to share what they have, read about the history of sharing here.

Now we have the chance to lead the world once again this time, by becoming the first nation built on sharing.

To funders, councils, and policymakers: the infrastructure is here. The evidence is clear. What Wales needs now is long-term investment in the systems that make borrowing and repair accessible to all.

To communities, volunteers, and partners: thank you for proving that sharing works. Keep borrowing, repairing, and repeating because this is how we build a fairer, greener future together.

Read the manifesto here.

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