From a garden shredder to toy cars and kettles, these broken belongings are given a new lease of life at the Repair Cafe.
From toy cars to kettles and lamps, these broken belongings are getting a new lease of life thanks to the Repair Cafe in Asher Hall, Napier.
Run by a team of volunteers from Sustainable Napier, the Repair Cafe launched last year and has become a huge hit with locals.
Napier Resident Katy Anderson took her son’s toy car in after a wheel had come off.
“I decided to bring it to our repair cafe since it’s one of his favourites at the moment. Anything we can do to make things that we already have last a bit longer is awesome,” she said.
Local Russell Petuha was asked to dump a lamp for a friend, but instead of throwing it away, he found the Repair Cafe.
“I got it fixed so it doesn’t have to go to the dump. It can be saved.”
Some 30 volunteers help out, including four registered electricians to make sure everything’s safely repaired.
“We have a really great area that includes general repairs, toys and furniture and jewellery. The most popular repair area is the electrical area,” said organiser Helen Howard.
So far, about 400 items have been repaired, and equates to about $18,000 in saved value of the items.
But for some it’s about much more than saving money.
“One of my volunteers, Esther, came along to one of the first repair cafes with an antique radio, a beautiful wooden radio that was like a family heirloom,” said Howard.
“She was so grateful that it got fixed and she’s come back to volunteer every month for us, which is fantastic.”
It’s not just household appliances that are given the Repair Cafe treatment — Jo Laurie brought in a garden shredder.
“We thought it might be an electrical issue, but it turns out it was a tiny piece of broken plastic. They managed to cut a special little piece of plastic and fix it in exactly the right place, to make the switch work properly,” she said.
Hastings local James Taylor wanted to set up a repair cafe where Hastings residents could fix broken items instead of throwing them out.
James Taylor is an electrical repair volunteer who now plans to open another repair cafe in Hastings.
“We’ve got that throwaway culture,” he said.
“I appreciate that the travel can be quite a barrier, especially when you’ve got a toaster not quite working. Do I want to travel all the way to Napier to get this fixed? Or I could go buy one just as cheap.
Hastings’ first Repair Cafe is planned for May 14 at the Hastings Central Library, from 1pm to 4pm.
