Luckily I had a grandfather who fixed them for me. A retired Dutch engineer, he’d have them up and running in a few days, his initials and date discretely etched onto the underside. It was a marvellous service.

Now that he’s passed away, I’ve tried getting broken electrical appliances professionally repaired, but more often than not get told it’ll be cheaper to buy a new item. This frustrates and annoys me on so many levels; it’s a waste of money and raw materials, wasteful of energy to make and transport new goods, dreadful for landfill and entirely avoidable if products were made to last. Planned obsolescence is a disgraceful practice. 

Imagine my delight when I stumbled across an antidote to this: Repair Cafes. The first Repair Cafe was established in 2009 by a journalist in The Netherlands and has since spread to over 20 countries. The Netherlands alone has hundreds of them.

Repair Cafes are free meeting places for people to learn the art of repair from professional tradespeople, experts and hobbyists. Visitors bring in a broken household item – a wobbly stool, torn shirt or broken lamp – and are shown how to fix it. It’s about repairing and restoring items, rejecting throw-away society and fostering a culture of creativity, innovation, repair and re-use.

Australia has only two Repair Cafes: one in Sydney, the other in Mullumbimby. Sydney’s Repair Cafe has been particularly successful, with a weekly service in Marrickville plus a pop-up service elsewhere. It was described by a member of Sydney Council’s Sustainability Programs Unit as having the deepest impact on waste avoidance and re-use.

Now a group is planning a Repair Cafe trial in Albury-Wodonga. We hope to host four sessions between November and April but we need volunteer repairers. If you have a knack for fixing things and would enjoy showing others, please get in touch by emailing lizette@salmonfamily.id.au or phoning (02) 6059 4185.

Visit repaircafe.org.