A weekly repair café in central Auckland that gives broken items a new lease of life is being piloted with the help of a $32,800 grant from Auckland Council’s Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund.
Open every Saturday in Grey Lynn, Repair and Share Café is a collaboration between Auckland Library of Tools (ALoT) and Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand (RCANZ).
Taking fixable items to a repair café is becoming increasingly popular, but up until now most repair cafés have been ad hoc, relying on volunteers and donations, and running infrequently.
Co-founder of ALoT (a lending library for tools) Amanda Chapman says the grant, which was awarded last December, has enabled the repair café to employ a coordinator, pay for supplies, and provide a koha for the volunteers who give up their Saturdays to repair items.
“We applied for the grant because we believe a repair café run at a set time every week would make people more likely to use it; we have access to skilled volunteers, tools, and also extra space thanks to Hackland Makerspace.
“Our biggest challenge has been having the capacity to make it happen when all our Tool Library volunteers have fulltime jobs. This grant allows us to employ a dedicated person and keep our café running weekly. It’s also meant we can run monthly repair-themed workshops,” Amanda says.
The Repair and Share Café was first set up in April and the feedback has been very positive with people returning or bringing friends.
“As well as repairing items, we help people build confidence in their own skills to maintain and fix items, and the cafe provides a sense of community for locals and newcomers,” says Amanda.
The grant will allow the weekly Repair and Share Café to run until at least December, giving the organisers time to consider options for continuing the initiative.
“We are keen to continue with the repair café, so we will assess its feasibility to be self-sustaining. We also want to share our learnings with other tool libraries and repair cafés across the country,” says Amanda.
Chair of the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee Richard Hills says the weekly repair café initiative is a prime example of how the Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund can make a difference to communities and the environment.
“Extending the life of items helps protect the environment by reducing waste sent to landfill, and many waste minimisation initiatives, like the Repair and Share Café, also have economic and social benefits.
“By providing a kick-start, the Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund enables great ideas to become a reality. I would encourage any community group, school or business within Tāmaki Makaurau that needs support to start or expand a waste minimisation project to consider applying for the fund.”
Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund
Applications for the Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund are open from 1 August 2024 to 31 August 2024.
Community groups, schools and businesses within the Auckland region are eligible to apply for grants between $1,000 and $50,000. The funds must be spent in the 2025 calendar year.
For more information go to the Auckland Council website and search “WMIF”, click here or email aucklandwastefund@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
Repair and Share Café, Grey Lynn
Open every Saturday (except public holiday weekends) from 11am to 2pm
Hackland Makerspace / ALoT, 21 Newton Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland
