What are Repair Cafés?
Repair Cafés emerged as a response to a growing problem of consumer waste. Where it seems simpler or cheaper to replace things than to repair them, even when a basic repair could give many more years of enjoyment and prevent the environmental impact of an item being replaced. The problem is often down to a lack of the relevant skills, tools, materials or simply the confidence to take on the task.
A Repair Café is a community space you can bring broken household items to and learn how to fix them. Where you’ll find tools, materials and help from skilled volunteers. The type of items covered by each café can differ, depending on the skills of the regular volunteers, but can include clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bikes, crockery, toys, etc.
If you have the skills, they can also be a great place to volunteer and if you don’t have anything needing repairing, you can always watch how things are done over a cup of tea or coffee.
Green Durham’s Repair Café Map
Our Listings Map includes organisations running regular Repair Cafés across Durham and the Northeast of England.
Green Durham’s #Repair Resources
Our Resource page includes a host of repair related information including advice on setting up your own Repair Café from the County Durham “Weee” and Repair Café International, resources to help you repair items yourself and campaigns asking for repairability to be designed into all household items.
#Evergreen
Green Durham ‘Evergreen’ articles focus on given topic and are updated from time to time to keep them fresh. Feel free to suggest updates to the article, Listed organisations and resources.
We’d also love to hear from you if you, or your organisation, could partner with Green Durham around a subject close to your heart.
