Chesterfield Repair Café calls for ‘Repair for Everyone’ this Repair Day

At the event, visitors are encouraged to bring all types of household items for repair such as clothing, furnishing, electrics, simple woodwork and tool sharpening. Volunteer fixers will help people repair them and keep them working for longer. The Chesterfield Repair Café has been running regularly since 2016 and is held monthly. Since we started recording our data, we have held 66 events, with 776 participants. We’ve prevented 1,795kg of waste and 12,682 kg of CO2 (that’s like growing 211 tree seedlings for 10 years).

International Repair Day celebrates the power of community repair to prevent waste and learn skills together. Last Repair Day, over 1300 waste busting events happened across the globe, including 106 in the UK. We expect this year to be even better, featuring, to name a few notable ones - a 15th birthday celebration of Repair Cafe International, an open air repair cafe in the Grand Place in Brussels, a webinar by Right to Repair Europe, and repair training courses for refugees in Uganda. In the UK alone, there are more than 500 repair cafes. People can find their closest at https://communityrepairnetwork.org.uk/find. In the Chesterfield area, new Repair Cafes have started up in Tupton, Old Whittington, Sheffield, Greenhill and there are many more further afield in Derbyshire.

The UK Repair Declaration calls for measures to make repair easier for everyone by: making repair more affordable; expanding our Right to Repair regulations; helping the public choose more repairable products; supporting repair training and apprenticeships; and prioritising reuse when waste is processed. The Repair Declaration can be signed at repairreusedeclaration.uk

Andie, who does sewing repairs at Chesterfield Repair Café says: "I've been a volunteer at the Repair Cafe for a year and really enjoy helping people find solutions to their clothing and textile repairs, from sewing on a button to replacing a zip to mending a tear. Often we can show visitors simple fixes that they can have a go at themselves. It's so important to extend the life of clothing and avoid contributing to the huge mountain of textiles in landfill. Visitors enjoy seeing a favourite piece of clothing being brought back to life and also love the refreshments on offer when they visit."

Fiona, Co-Director at The Restart Project says: Everyone should have easy access to low cost repair and that’s why we’re asking MPs to sign their support for the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration this Repair Day. Most people don’t like throwing away usable things. Government policies can stem the tide of throwaway products through making repair easier, cheaper and more accessible, and making reuse a priority over recycling.