Can Repair Cafes save a dollar and the planet?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But if it is, maybe don’t throw it away either.

Instead, consider taking it to one of many new Repair Cafes — free community-led events where volunteers (AKA “repair coaches”) lend their expertise to help people fix their belongings, whether that’s electronics, clothes, bikes, lamps, or other household items.

Founded in 2009, what began as one event in Amsterdam has grown into a global nonprofit with 59k+ members who help save 850k everyday objects from ending up in landfills every year, per The Associated Press.

They’ve proliferated as an alternative to mass-produced goods and throwaway culture. And over the past year alone, the number of worldwide cafes has climbed from 2.5k to ~4k today.

How it works

• Instead of dropping off items, owners are expected to stay for the repair and work alongside the coach, who might be your neighborhood seamstress, engineer, or carpenter.
• The goal is that they learn the skill, so that next time they can potentially fix the issue themselves or pass the knowledge along to someone else.
• Some even have 3D printers handy for when broken or missing parts are needed.

Successful repairs aren’t guaranteed, but for the low price of zero dollars, it’s worth trying to save one more thing from ending up in a landfill, and — at the very least — a good opportunity to connect with your neighbors or learn a new skill.

Why now?

The growth of Repair Cafes comes amid a greater anticonsumerism movement.

While retailers like Amazon have made it easy to replace things when they break, it comes at an environmental cost.

• Each year, ~2.6B metric tons of waste are added to landfills. Without intervention, the World Bank estimates that number could rise 50% by 2050.

Plus, repairing old goods can be cheaper than buying new, especially right now: US consumer prices rose by 4.2% in May, the highest level since 2023.

While Repair Cafes alone aren’t enough…

… to combat the ills of consumerism — that will require change “on a much higher level,” founder Martine Postma told The AP — it’s fortunately not the only grassroots effort working toward a culture of repair and reuse:

• The Buy Nothing Project, a network of Facebook groups where people trade items they don’t want or give them away for free.
• Tool Libraries, which let people borrow gardening resources, power tools, and other equipment, and have become a lifeline for disaster-struck communities with limited government aid.