What is a Repair Café?

What is a Repair Café?

As a society we throw away vast amounts of stuff, even things with almost nothing wrong with them. The majority of our waste still goes into landfill as recycling options are limited and we’re encouraged to consume more and more. Many products are intentionally designed with built-in obsolescence so that their useful life is shortened and we're forced to buy new. The knowledge and ability to repair and 'make do and mend' have been lost over the years and valuable practical skills are not being passed down the generations. It's becoming more and more obvious that our 'throwaway' society is totally unsustainable and Repair Cafés are a hands-on way to learn how this attitude fails both people and the planet.

Repair Cafés are helping to change attitudes by presenting an innovative approach to waste reduction, social cohesion and the transference of craft skills, through the act of repairing, upgrading and maintaining a broad range of products. They are a community-led initiative offering a friendly and social meeting place, open to all, where hand-portable broken, damaged or torn household and personal possessions are repaired or mended by a team of multi-skilled, highly competent repairers.

By repairing our possessions we:

• feel a new appreciation for them and their value

• understand the, often very simple, repair needed to extend a product’s life

• reduce unnecessary waste to landfill

• reduce our continued overuse and consumption of finite, non-renewable resources

• reduce carbon emissions and the embedded energy in manufacturing new or recycling used products

• save money by not having to buy a replacement item

• help to revive long-lost or forgotten practical and useful skills which can be shared with others

How did the Repair Café start?

The first Repair Café opened in Amsterdam, Holland in 2009 and Repair Cafe International celebrated 10 hugely successful years of global growth in October 2019. There are now almost 2000 Repair Cafes worldwide in 35 countries.

The number in the UK has risen to over 100 and there are four in our local area, Leamington (at the Sydni Centre), Rugby, Southam (at the Graham Adams Centre), and Harbury. Although the majority of Repair Cafés are based in Europe, they are also opening further afield in countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Japan, Australia, and India.

If you want to find out more and the location of your nearest Repair Cafe visit the Repair Café International's website.

According to the 2017 Annual Report published by Repair Cafe International, Repair Cafés around the world saved approximately 300,000 products from being thrown away. That equates to the weight of a double-decker train with twelve carriages!

What is the History of Repair Cafe Harbury?

Planning started in January 2020, and our first event was scheduled to take place at the end of April 2020 before being overtaken by Covid-19. We're now settling into a regular schedule of Repair Cafes taking place on the 4th Saturday of the month, from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Scout Hut (behind the library). Between those events we'll be running separate, occasional, Bicycle Repair Clinics.

Repair Cafe Harbury is supported by, and cooperates with, Harbury Energy Initiative and Harbury Village Library.