Guernsey Press

Repair cafe aims to fix the island’s throwaway culture

TOASTERS, lamps, hair straighteners, vacuums, knitwear and jeans are among the items that have been saved from landfill as a group of volunteers aim to fix the island’s throwaway culture.

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Seamstress Sarah Koulloutas repairing some clothing at the first repair cafe of the year held upstairs at The Golden Lion. (Picture by Sophie Rabey, 30372559)

The monthly repair cafe in Town was launched last September, and it seems to be taking root and has cut the amount of waste the island creates because stuff gets restored.

It takes place on the first Saturday of every month in the upstairs of the Golden Lion pub opposite the Market buildings.

Among the items at this month’s event was a teddy bear getting some new stuffing, a vacuum cleaner with a sticky switch, and a car hose with a faulty component part.

The pop-up is organised by the Clean Earth Trust, and Helen Quin from the charity said the ethos was about challenging the consumer culture that drives us to buy new products.

‘The idea is that people can come in and learn how to fix something as opposed to it being just a repair service.

‘We don’t want to take money away from other repair services because we want to promote the idea of people getting stuff repaired.

‘So people can learn how to fix things at home themselves, instead of buying something new.’

Electrician Daniel Legg is one of the volunteer experts, and he enjoys never knowing what people will bring in.

Lamps seem to top the list of items, and depending on what people are clutching when they come through the doors, he said he has a roughly 50% success rate.

‘A lot of the stuff that people bring in is sentimental, old lamps and things like that, it’s stuff that they’ve had in their family for a while, so they’re happy when it gets fixed.

‘I’ve had some good successes with GHD hair straighteners, they overheat and there’s a part on the inside that always breaks but it’s easy to replace.’

Programmes such as the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee are encouraging a move away from fast fashion made in third world countries.

Sarah Koulloutas is one of a team of seamstresses who can mend seams, darn holes in t-shirts and ripped jeans, and fix knitwear.

She said people were becoming more conscious and wanted to make do and mend.

‘The younger generation is definitely getting more interested in buying pre-loved and fixing stuff, so that’s really encouraging.

‘You can extend the life of something really easily.’

In February an expert in fixing instruments is joining the team, and the Clean Earth Trust is always looking for extra people with specialist skills to get on board.

As well as getting stuff fixed, you can also get a green version of a retail fix because the repair cafe has teamed up with the Guernsey Clothes Swap.

It costs £2 to try the clothes swap, and there is no charge for the repair cafe but people can leave a donation.

There is a very social atmosphere with lots of chit-chat, and while there are no guarantees that something can get fixed, it is virtually guaranteed that visitors will have an interesting time.