Every year we throw away hundreds of thousands of things because they’re broken. Whether its tech, furniture or toys, it’s usually cheaper to throw an item away than to get it repaired. This means tonnes of waste goes to landfill and pollutes our environment, though it’s often things which can still be made use of.
Repair Café’s provide an accessible space where items can be fixed and are formed and lead by people who want to tackle this throw away culture. They help support communities in providing accessible services and in generating a community spirit.
During Go Green Salford, we were lucky enough to be joined by Chorlton Repair Café who delivered a great session at the start of the fortnight to explore how we can set up our own repair café at the University. Subsequently, we’ve formed a University community of staff and students passionate and interested in supporting our own Repair Café.
On our final Friday of Go Green Salford, we welcome Chorlton Repair Café again in hosting our first University Repair Café. Staff and students were able to bring along their broken things to be fixed, for free!
Among our happy customers were Neva, who had the handle sorted on her long broken suitcase and Tory, who managed to get various things fixed, including a hat, pair of sunglasses and a jumper!
With our University volunteers, were aiming for a regular repair café on campus, to provide accessible repairs for staff and students. Whilst we plan our upcoming Repair Café’s, you can always have a look at one’s being run in Chorlton and the local area in the meantime.
If you’re interested in joining us in the development of our Repair Café, then you’re welcome to join! If you have fixing skills you’d like to make use of or are interested in developing some, let us know. It’s also not just about fixing, there’s lots of comms and admin roles involved too. Let us know here how you’d like to get involved.