Page 6 - Oundle Life April 2022

REPAIR
CAFES
Can you help?
In these more environmentally-aware days, people often wish they were better able to reuse or recycle items – rather than just binning them.
But if the repair is minor or just too expensive, it often just won’t happen. Enter Repair Cafés – based on a simple idea: people bring in their broken or damaged items and
a team of skilled, voluntary repairers do their best to mend them. The owner has the chance to watch and learn from the process whilst enjoying a cup of tea and maybe a slice of cake.
This concept is not new, of course, but is
one that has been lost in modern consumer purchasing patterns. It has become ‘cheaper’
to simply buy a low value replacement rather than get something repaired – resulting in piles of discarded electronic goods, cheaply made bicycles and low quality clothing – many of which are not recycled, even if they do make
it into recycling bins. This needs to change
and many manufacturers are shifting towards providing for the circular economy; products are being designed to be repaired, which extends their product life- purchasing models are changing (to be more like ‘hire’ agreements where retailers and manufacturers will retain ownership and take back goods at the end
of their life), products will be designed for
recycling and waste will be much reduced. Following the success of the first events back
in 2019, the Repair Café team will be back in action on Saturday 2nd April 2022, at Fletton House, off Glapthorn Road in Oundle. So, if
you have items which might benefit from some attention from volunteers who are giving their time free of charge (although a small donation
is always welcome) to help cut waste and
breathe life into much-loved items, please email repaircafe@transitionoundle.org.uk with details, and one of the team will get back to you. We are anticipating great demand and so will likely only be able to fit in people with appointments, please make sure you book in as soon as possible!
And if you are able and willing to help curt waste, fix old items, and bring joy back to people, you may be happy to know that we always seek ‘repairers’. If you can turn your hand to repairing items as diverse as patching trousers, fixing old VHS recorders or cine cameras, or sharpening knives and scissors, well – we want to hear from you.
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If you are interested, please email: repaircafe@transitionoundle.org.uk and we will be in touch.