A growing number of Canadians want to repair household items instead of tossing them into the trash. The strategy not only saves consumers money, but addresses the issue of waste in our society.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “They don’t make things like they used to.”
Now a growing number of eco-minded Canadians are deciding that just won’t do. Coffee makers, lamps, toasters and kettles can often be fixed instead of tossed into the trash when they stop working.
“A lot of things these days break quite easily,” says Wai Chu Cheng, the co-founder of Repair Café Toronto, a non-profit organization with 800 volunteers on call, eager to teach people how to fix household items. “People aren’t sure they can repair it themselves, and we show them how.”
The Repair Café holds monthly gatherings, where not only small appliances and other household goods get fixed, but also clothing that needs patches or mending.
When the Repair Café started seven years ago in Canada, there was only one chapter, in Calgary. Now Cheng says there are 47 similar Café organizations in cities across the country providing the same type of services — free. More are coming; Cheng says she’s been getting calls from community groups who want help to set up their own, local repair group.
The cost of replacement has always been a motivation to have things repaired, but nowadays Cheng says climate and waste concerns are driving a surge in interest, particularly with young people.
Anita Neufeld came to a recent Repair Café with a broken tape deck. “The main reason for me to fix things is to be able to reuse stuff and keep it out of the landfill.”
Make it last longer
For-profit companies are also on top of the trend. Tim McGuire is CEO of Mobile Klinik, a chain of 80 stores that repair mobile devices in malls and Walmart locations across the country. He points out that the chain was recently ranked as the 12th fastest growing company in Canada, with plans to have 200 locations coast to coast within the next three years.
“There are a lot of people that would like to get more years out of an electronic device, rather than putting it into a landfill,” he says.
