Makerspace’s Nicholas Adams fixing a food processor for clients at an earlier Repair Café.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/MAKERSPACE
February 17, 2020 - 8:45 AM
Don’t send broken odds and ends to the landfill, take them to the Repair Cafe.
Transition Kamloops and Kamloops Makerspace are putting on the event and they have found people who can fix just about anything, including lamps, hairdryers, toasters, clothes, bikes, furniture, toys and even costume jewelry. The best part is, it's free.
The event will take place at the Sahali Center Mall at 945 Columbia Street West on Saturday, Feb. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"Repairing is even better than recycling,” Jennifer Ste. Marie of Transition Kamloops said, in a press release. “Sometimes things which have practically nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple repair, get tossed. Repair Café wants to change that."
“Fixers” enjoy sharing their knowledge and almost always have the know-how to assist and teach you how to carry out the repair. “Repair Café allows our volunteers to share their experience and talents and give back to the community,” Nicolas Adams of Kamloops Makerspace said. He points out that repairs can often be made to items that are no longer manufactured.
Finally, bringing items to the Repair Café is easy on your pocketbook.
According to Zero Waste Canada, Dutch journalist Martine Postma started the woldwide phenomenon of Repair Cafes in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2009. The next year, fired by its success, she set up the non-profit Repair Café Foundation to provide guidelines. The guidelines help to build up a network of active Repair Cafés around the world
There are now 1,003 centres worldwide, with hundreds in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands and 15 listed in Canada.
Each is a community hub where local residents can bring in broken items and get them repaired for free, as well as network, learn skills, socialize and help others. Local expertise, tools, repair manuals and materials are all on hand. Combining education, social inclusivity, ‘sharing economy’ practices and sustainable action, the cafés have become nodes in the circular economy, teaching its principles from the bottom up.
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