A free Repair Café, hosted by Sustainable Orillia as part of Sustainable Orillia Month at Orillia Square mall, was busy Saturday.
The event, which operated today from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., gave people an opportunity to see if local tech junkies and avid do-it-yourselfers could fix appliances and household items to keep them from unnecessarily clogging up Orillia's landfill.
“It’s really about embracing the circular economy which encourages reducing, repairing, and reusing before recycling and, obviously, landfill as a last resort,” explained Audrey Bayens, the volunteer Goods and Sector chair for Sustainable Orillia.
“The way we reduce our emissions is not just through driving an electric car or changing how we heat our homes, which are called regional emissions, but there is another way that is coming to light in how we measure our carbon footprint, and that’s called consumption admission,” Bayens explained.
The goal of the Repair Café is to extend the life of many products through the community helping each other out and lending a hand.
“There are trades that are coming back to life now like repair shops for electrical, shoes, sewing, and jewellery. We have all of those things that we used to do in the past and we are bringing them back,” Bayens said.
“Repair Café is community that supports each other to keep things in use, which is really fabulous.”
Bayens is hopeful that the Repair Café encourages people to purchase items that are repairable going forward.
“In many countries, governments are creating a right-to-repair bill. It’s also starting to happen in provinces and states in North America as well. Cities are taking charge of their own bylaws on these sorts of things, which forces producers to build things in such a way where you can build it, take it apart, fix it, and buy new parts,” she said.
On Saturday, volunteers were on hand to sew and mend clothes, fix computers, cellphones and small electrical appliances, repair jewellery, assist with woodworking, among other things.
Jill Kidd, who likes to sew, volunteered her services for the fourth time at a local Repair Café this weekend. She said she likes being able to help people through her passion for sewing.
“This is always a lot of fun. This is what I like to do in my spare time,” she explained.
“One of the times I was here there was a little girl and she had a toy that needed to be repaired because she said she just loved it so much, it was so adorable.”
Kidd says people always show their appreciation to those at the café who can help them fix something.
“There is too much going into the landfill every single day and I’ve been sewing since I was eight years old. So, I’ve always liked to try to fix things instead of just throwing them out," she said.
Jim Lemkey was also on hand this weekend to help people fix electronics and appliances.
“I’ve been at every one of these things since they started doing it and I’ve enjoyed it. It’s fun to help people out, and often times I can fix stuff and people are appreciative of that,” he said.
“I’ve been fixing things my whole life. It’s kind of fun to just give some of that stuff I’ve learned over the years back.”
Lemkey says usually it’s not that complicated to fix things if you have a little technical know-how.
“If you can spend a little effort on something to make it work again, it’s a lot better than spending more money and time to find the right thing that you want.”
Lemkey’s first assignment on Saturday was fixing a small radio for Diana Lynne.
“This is my favourite old-fashioned radio, and I don’t like landfills. So, I wanted to come here and see if I can get it fixed as opposed to buying a new one,” she explained.
“I think the landfill is overused; I don’t like the looks of a landfill, they just look so terrible. So, instead, we need to be recycling.”
Shirley Harris attended Saturday’s Repair Café because she is ‘fed up' with how easily electronic devices fail nowadays. She brought a dehumidifier, a heater, and a boom box to be fixed.
“They all don’t function properly. I did have to go buy a new dehumidifier because with the heat in the summertime I couldn’t afford it, but I didn’t want to just throw it out. I figured if I could get it repaired then I would resell it for $10 or give it to someone who needed it,” she said.
Harris believes product quality will improve If there are more events happening around the world like the Repair Café.
“The companies will have to start to smarten up. I get angry, but I say 'OK, what can we do to improve?' That’s why I’m here today,” she said.
