Repair Café Glasgow is a voluntary organisation, founded in 2017 on the principles of Repair Café International, and built upon the idea that our possessions have lots of life left in them when we maintain and repair them. Doing this together with others builds social cohesion and combats isolation, while helping reduce the size of our landfills.

​It’s no secret that as a society we throw away vast amounts of stuff unnecessarily. The majority of our waste still goes into landfill and recycling options are often limited. Many products are intentionally designed with built-in obsolescence so that their useful life is shortened and we’re forced to buy new. The knowledge and ability to repair and ‘make do and mend’ have been lost over the years and valuable practical skills are not being passed down the generations.

More and more apparent is that our ‘throwaway’ society, fueled by over-consumption of cheap goods, is totally unsustainable. Repair Cafés are a hands-on way to learn how this attitude fails both people and the planet and to take practical steps to do something about it. Repair Cafés are helping to change attitudes by presenting an innovative approach to waste reduction, social cohesion and the transference of craft skills, through the act of repairing, upgrading and maintaining a broad range of products. Items regularly brought to Repair Cafés include furniture, household electrical appliances, electronic gadgets and devices, toys, garden equipment, bicycles, clocks, jewellery, ceramics, clothes and textiles…and much more!

Since its creation three years ago, Repair Café Glasgow has:

  • Helped to reverse the loss of practical DIY skills by ensuring that every service user sits with and learns from their repairer as their item is being worked on
  • Improved climate literacy and facilitated climate-benefitting behaviour amongst service users
  • Decreased feelings of loneliness, social exclusion and
    isolation in the community and helped towards increasing self-confidence, happiness and well-
    being by offering a variety of volunteering opportunities and community events
  • Saved ~5,500kg of items from going to landfill

Find out more about Repair Café Glasgow and the Repair Café movement >>

First published: 9 February 2022

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