Repair cafes are a global movement based on reducing waste, sharing skills and building community connections. Over the past two years, Eastside Repair Café has brought this community-led, sustainability movement to Clarence! They were recently recognised for their achievements at the Clarence Community Gala — with a special commendation for Event of the Year.
Clarence commends community café
Initiated and organised by two local community organisations, Clarence Climate Action and Warrane Mornington Neighbourhood Centre, Eastside Repair Café is organised and delivered completely through volunteer efforts, with 25 regular volunteers who are passionate about sustainability and sharing their skills.
Co-organiser, Ruth Osborne, explains the benefits “the repair café saves people money by repairing rather than throwing away items and also provides a friendly and welcoming space to meet others in our community and learn useful skills.”
In the past two years, a total of eighteen Eastside Repair Café events have been delivered, repairing over 450 items and saving over 300kg of waste from being deposited in landfill.
Items brought to the Repair Café include clothing, furniture, appliances, bicycles, crockery, toys, jewellery, tools, and much more.
Ruth continues “we have also inspired and supported Repair Cafes to start up in other regions such as Kingston Library and Okines Community House. Our wonderful Eastside volunteers worked alongside Okines volunteer at their inaugural Repair Cafe, transferring skills and knowledge to help deliver a successful event.”
Eastside Repair Café recently received a community grant from Clarence City Council to support this free event to continue as well as providing a valuable drop off point for hard-to-recycle items such as plastic bottle lids, oral care items and blister packs.
Chosen as this month’s Clarence Climate Champions, you can find out more about Eastside Repair Café by visiting facebook.com/eastsiderepaircafe or emailing eastsiderepaircafe@gmail.com.
Eastern Shore Sun, June 2024, page 10