It’s a routine that many people in the western world are guilty of; the act of encountering a broken item, deeming it irreparable, then absentmindedly disposing the item in question.
While the one simple action is often performed without thought of the expense to wallet and the wider environment, one Lake Macquarie initiative is working to change the universal but damaging mentality.
Lake Macquarie’s Repair It café has championed the waste not framework, resisting waste culture by offering Novocastrians a solution to not only the broken item itself, but the wasteful mindset that often accompanies it.
At regular meets, Repair it Lake Mac provides a friendly community space where locals can share knowledge and exchange skills in repairing plethora of items, including electrical goods, clothing, furniture, bikes and more.
“A lot of people want to repair things; they just either don’t have the skills themselves, they don’t know where to take the item or they think it’ll be too expensive to repair to make it worth it,” said Lake Mac Repair Café coordinator Sam Doove.
“We want to address those issues.”
While repairing is a priority on the day, it is not the only thing repair cafes achieve.
“The underlying feel and intention of the day is that community connection – people sharing skills and chatting … with the café there you often just get people sitting there and chatting and it’s through all those conversations [that] change happens.”
“Beyond just the repairs is about trying to implant that idea of repairing something in peoples mentality, and having that as an option as opposed to throwing things out.”
Repair It Lake Mac’s first major comeback event will be at Warners Bay Theatre on Sunday March 13 where talented volunteers will be available to repair electrical goods, furniture, tool sharpening and textiles.
“On the day we’ll probably have around 20 volunteers – it includes not only our repairers, but we run a free tea and coffee refreshments, we’ve got a kids zone, we run workshops.”
In terms of the process on the day, Doove said attendees bring in their broken goods before getting directed to the appropriate repair station, where often an exchange of skills takes place.
“The idea is also to learn a few skills along the way, so people stay with their broken stuff.
“The repairer might show them how they are fixing it, or what part they might need or simply just chat and connect!”
As a reward, a majority of attendees go home with an object with a restored item, and payment comes in the form of gratitude expressed for having their belongings fixed, or sometimes a donation to the repair café.
“Fortunately we currently have some financial support to be able to run the events from Lake Macquarie City Council so we are not having to worry about [the financial] aspect of the initiative which is brilliant,” Doove explained.
Doove said their most recent major Repair it event in December 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, was “massively successful” as more than 100 objects were repaired and restored.
Despite COVID-19 impacting the ability to host events recently, the Repair Café seeks to overcome the “massive struggle” the past two years has represented.
“This year we’ve decided to really ramp it up and bring it back to the success that we saw in 2020.”
“We’ve lost a few volunteers as we haven’t been able to operate over the past few years so we’re just trying to build that up again.”
One of the remaining volunteers, Margaret Standen said “the idea is to teach people that you don’t have to throw things away, you can repair them.”
“People either bring [items] in and we repair them for them, or we show them what to do and give them some ideas on other jobs they can do themselves to stop them going out and buying new.”
“I’ve had one fella come in with a vest that needed the whole back replaced, I showed him what to do and he took it home and did it himself,” she said.
“You get the service you ask for- if you want help to learn, we will help, but if you just want us to do it, we’ll do it for them.”
Doove added that the café has had “all sorts of things” enter through the doors, such as old garden tools that are “nearing death” which volunteers manage to bring back to life.
“It’s part of the fun of the day- seeing what arrives,” she said.
The local initiative started in 2018 as a result of an environmental grant from Lake Macquarie Council.
While a new concept locally, the first repair café was launched in Amsterdam in 2009, with the Repair Café Foundation claiming the community has expanded to include more than 2200 repair cafes internationally.
The concept aims to not just repair tangible objects, but wasteful consumer mentality and thus the wider economy.
Through abandoning the linear model that operates through the purchase use, dispose cycle, the circular economy ensures that resources continue to circulate in the economy, instead of meeting their demise in landfill long before their potential for use is over.
“In a circular economy, repair cafés fit right in”, the movement’s original founder Martine Postma declared.
Doove agreed, and described it as “a fascinating movement that extends beyond just fixing someone’s toaster, to advocating for the right to repair, introducing circular economy principles, creating local repair economies and local community building.”
Fellow coordinator at Lake Macquarie’s Repair it Cafe, Gabrielle Clappison, agreed that it was vital a circular economy is adopted soon, although explained that insurance issues and the right to repair is a huge obstacle in reducing consumer waste and achieving that goal.
“[At the repair cafe] we are just trying to stop things from getting thrown away, however sometimes our hands are tied due to risk assessments and other [measures] that must be put in place.”
This included the inability of Repair cafe to repair bikes, due to insurance issues, as well as the inability to allow electrical repairs unless volunteers have a certificate of currency.
Clappison recently attended the national Right to Repair Summit virtually, and said the movement is pushing for changes to legislation regarding consumers right to repair as currently, consumer products have become more difficult to repair independently.
This often comes as a result of manufacturers voiding valuable consumer warranties if a repair is undertaken independently.
Clappison also cited a global push for improved legislation, revealing summit plans to change national legislation to instate a national repair scaling/ rating system similar to the energy rating system.
“The national scale rating system for repairing and repurposing on products similar to our energy rating system will enable consumers to make an educated decision on which is the best products for their purpose.”
“We have to get a circular economy going… we have to do something, it should’ve been done yesterday.”
Clappison also said the clock was ticking on exchanging valuable generational skillsets and knowledge bases
“It’s why the café aspect is so important- we find even older gentlemen have those skills and we’re going to lose a lot of that if we don’t tap into that skillset,” she said.
Doove issued a plea for more volunteers to join the local cause, as well as local businesses such as bike shops with insurance who may be willing to sacrifice a few hours for the sustainability cause.
Interested parties are encouraged to get in touch via the groups Facebook page to keep up to date on upcoming repairing sessions, and to learn more about breathing new life into old clothes and wares.