By Mike Anderson
If you have an old vacuum that needs a new cord but don’t know where to take it to get repaired, don’t worry. York Region has a solution. It’s called the Repair Cafe.
York Region’s Waste Management Department sponsors monthly Repair Cafes at libraries throughout the Region’s nine municipalities.
The Repair Cafe is operated by NewMakeIt, an innovative non-profit maker space based in Newmarket that provides workshop space and tools for artists, hobbyists and entrepreneurs.
According to the York Region website, Repair Cafes have fixed over 550 items and redirected 5 tonnes of items from landfills since 2018.
The latest Repair Cafe was held in Keswick on March 1 at the GPL’s Discovery Library Branch at the MURC.
More than 20 residents had their vacuums, small appliances, toys, and other household items repaired by volunteer fixers. The best part was that it was free.
“We will fix them for free to keep items out of landfills, ” said Kate Norris, a program coordinator for NewMakeit.
“We get people who just hate seeing something go to waste, but also people who maybe can’t afford to have items fixed. Or people who have items that are of sentimental value. But some people just enjoy getting out and meeting people in the community.”
While Norris says the Repair Cafes give residents the confidence to do their own repairs, it also helps them become better consumers.
“There’s almost two lessons to learn. The things they can fix here are incredible, but they also need to be careful when purchasing items. Some items are built now with built-in obsolescence and are designed to break. For instance, there are certain coffee makers that you cannot repair. When you repair an item like that, it blows apart from the inside.
Norris supports the right-to-repair movement and Canada’s Bill C-244, which allows third-party repair technicians to make software fixes without violating copyright so devices like phones and fridges can be repaired.
“Items need to be manufactured in such a way that they can be repairable,” she said.
Norris credits her volunteer fixers with making the Repair Cafe possible.
“We bring volunteers who have different skill sets to the library. We have sewing volunteers, bike repair volunteers, and then what I like to call a general fixer, which typically falls into two categories: household items and electronics. So now you’re looking at phones, laptops, CD players.”
Norris says they would like to expand the number of Repair Cafes, but she’s limited by the number of fixers available.
“You don’t want to use and abuse the volunteers. We try to run one a month because that is not too much to ask from volunteers.”
But Norris says she’s always on the hunt for new volunteers.
“We’re always looking for volunteers because it’s a dying art,” she said.
“When we get to the point where we have doubled our active volunteer base, we’re hoping to run two events a month and have additional community partners.”
“Right now, we only partner with libraries. But we could be partnering with community centres and senior centres.”
If you would like to volunteer as a fixer, visit https://www.york.ca/newsroom/campaigns-projects/repair-cafe.
Registration is also open for the next Repair Cafe in King, which will be held at the Zancor Centre on Saturday, March 29.
For more information on how to fix your household items, visit www.ifixit. com
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