A new community sustainability project in Launceston is aiming to help turn people’s trash into treasure by returning broken items to working order.
As part of the Sustainability Living Festival held at Inveresk in March, the City of Launceston Council trialled an on-site Repair Café stall, with volunteers repairing items such as bicycles, blenders and books at no charge.
Following the success of the stall, the Council will now facilitate the new Launceston Repair Café on a regular basis with the help of more than 20 talented volunteers from a range of technical fields.
City of Launceston Mayor, Matthew Garwood said the inaugural Repair Café would be held this Saturday April 20 from 1pm to 4pm in the Pilgrim Church Hall at 34 Paterson St.
“The Launceston Repair Café is going to be a monthly free, open community event aimed at diverting items from landfill, saving people money, creating new community connections, and teaching us non-experts some valuable repairing know-how,” Mayor Garwood said.
“‘I’m pretty sure we’ve all got a couple of damaged or broken items stashed away that we can’t fix or bear to throw out, and this is the perfect opportunity to save face, money, and the environment.”
Council Sustainability Officer, Alison Roush said eligible items for repair included electronics, clothing, furniture, bikes, power tools, and other general repairs, depending on repairer availability for each event.
“We already have some really great expert repairers involved in the Launceston Repair Café initiative and we’d love to hear from anyone with repair skills who might like to be involved,” Ms Roush said.
“If you’ve got something that needs repairing, all you need to do is register your item online and be willing to assist with the free repairs undertaken by one of our experts on the day.
“The Repair Cafe initiative is about knowledge-sharing, salvaging broken items, and making new friends along the way.”
New parts won’t supplied and will need to be brought if required along with the item on the day.
People can find out more and register items online at repaircafe.org/en/cafe/launceston-repair-cafe/.
