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Repair cafés, with the mantra of ‘Don’t Toss It – Fix It’, provide an opportunity for people to have treasured and useful things repaired at no cost by skilled volunteers, so that the items can continue their useful life.
Among the benefits are that it helps people use the resources they already have for longer and reduces waste going to landfill.
The repair café held in Whangaparāoa five years ago, organised by Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste and Whangaparāoa Community Hub, was attended by almost 60 people who brought along small broken electrical appliances, toys and bikes for repair.
Starting on February 4, repair cafés will have a regular presence on the Coast, thanks to an Auckland not-for-profit organisation Doughnut Economics Advocates NZ (DOANZ), supported by Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste and the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board.
This will be DOANZ’s sixth Auckland repair café.
A group of skilled local volunteer repairers are being assembled, following a meeting last month and another to be held on January 28 in Whangaparāoa.
DOANZ administration and business development officer, Kennedy Brown, says the type of things people will be able to bring for repair are clothes or fabric items that need altering or repair, bikes and broken toys.
He hopes more repairers will come forward at the meeting this weekend – in particular they are looking for a registered electrician, someone with experience diagnosing or repairing electronic equipment such as laptops, and people to take care of administrative tasks for the repair café.
The difference from the British TV programme The Repair Shop, Kennedy says, is the timeframe for the work – repair cafés have a same-day turn around, and not everything can be fixed.
Although volunteers come and go, Kennedy says the repair cafés work when a core of the same people come back each time.
The DOANZ website points out that it’s a process that makes everyone feel good – customers get things fixed free of charge, and repairers get lots of thanks for their skills.
Kennedy says once the repair cafés are set up and going smoothly they are fairly self-sustaining – the community able to run them with DOANZ’s support.
How to get involved • The next meeting for would-be repair volunteers is on Saturday, January 28 at Whangaparāoa Library, 11am-12 noon. • The first Ōrewa Repair Café is on Saturday, February 4 at Ōrewa Community Hall, 11am-2pm. They will be held on the first Saturday of the month at the same venue from then on.
