Repair Cafe Fixes Amsterdam’s Uneconomical Habits FOR FREE

Photo from www.abc-west.nl
Photo from www.abc-west.nl

Originating back in 2009 to ”fix” Amsterdam’s problems with waste disposal, the appropriately dubbed ”Repair Cafe” in the capital city of the Netherlands remains to be one of the prime examples on how to successfully promote local-level sustainability in the urban landscape.

Launched by Dutch journalist Martine Postma, what was once an outlet for the city to help people reduce waste has now become a community of people who volunteer for not only their love for fixing things but also their desire to help their neighbors.

Postma believes that there are still so much that we can get out of the things that we would normally throw away, and the Repair Cafe aims to establish just that, with the help of her group of volunteers.

In Europe, we throw out so many things,” Martine Postma, who worked as a journalist before she thought of the concept, said in an interview.

”It’s a shame, because the things we throw away are usually not that broken. There are more and more people in the world, and we can’t keep handling things the way we do.”

Credit: NYTimes
Credit: NYTimes

”I had the feeling I wanted to do something, not just write about it,’‘ she added. 

Sustainability discussions are often about ideals, about what could beAfter a certain number of workshops on how to grow your own mushrooms, people get tired. This is very hands on, very concrete. It’s about doing something together, in the here and now.”

Credit: NYTimes
Credit: NYTimes

This simple brainchild of hers has now become a movement, spawning the Repair Cafe Foundation wherein she was able to expand to roughly 1,003 centers around the globe – including key locations in Belgium, Britain, and Germany that allow local residents to bring in broken items and get them fixed for free.

Would you volunteer if a Repair Cafe spawns in your neighborhood? Let us know in the comments below and share this news.


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