Sooke Repair Cafe #5 ~ this Sunday, Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sooke Community Hall.
Free admission as ever, no charge for fixes (though donations are always appreciated). Everyone is welcome to bring whatever malfunctioning or broken items they can carry in themselves. Our expert crew of local volunteer fixers will do their best to see them right.
This officially sanctioned event again marks the end of the annual (10th anniversary in this case) International Repair Cafe Week organized by Repair Cafe HQ in Amsterdam. According to it, 1,653 Repair Café groups were active world-wide last year. Collectively, they prevented approx. 350,000 kilos of salvageable stuff from going to landfills ~ the same weight, we’re told, as 58 adult African elephants! Following the calculation method by British researcher Steve Privett, up to 8.5 million kilos of CO2 was saved in 2018.
What a victory in the pushback against the manufacturing world’s favourite phrase: built-in obsolescence!
Our event also signals the start of the annual Waste Reduction Week in Canada, launched in 2001 by the Recycling Council of Ontario and now involving a coalition of not-for-profit environmental groups and governments from each of the 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions across Canada. This year’s activities focus on seven daily themes: the circular economy; textiles; champions & innovators; plastics & packaging; food waste; shop, share & repair; and electronic waste.
