“Make Do and Mend” — Why Repair Cafes are Transforming the Way We Think About Our Possessions
When was the last time you told yourself, determinedly, that it was time for a clear-out in your home? Or that you decided that you needed to declutter your living room or pack up some of your worldly goods and donate them to charity? Probably not that long ago.
Most of us prefer to be organised rather than chaotic, and dream of living in tidy spaces, rather than surrounded by endless stuff we’ve accumulated over the years. And it’s easy enough to have a ‘spring clean’ or make a New Year’s resolution, when it comes to clearing out.
But what about when it comes to repairing things we own? Why are we all so reluctant to learn how to fix our possessions? Is it because we’ve actually forgotten how to?
“Make do and Mend”
Just 80 years ago, things were far different. Indeed, “Make Do and Mend” was the British catch-phrase in World War II, after Churchill’s government issued a pamphlet to civilians urging them to live as frugally as possible during this period of austerity. Whether darning a sweater, transforming a part of the garden into a vegetable patch, making tasty food out of the weekly rations or fixing a broken piece of furniture, the message was simple — be careful with your resources!
The Throwaway Society
So what happened? Well, what happened is the ‘Throwaway Society.’ We’re now using far more than we’ve ever used before and throwing out what we buy more quickly than ever before. For instance, the United States possesses more cellphones than people — and whilst it’s estimated that 70% of them could be reused, only about 14–17% actually are. Some estimates reckon that Americans are throwing out around 350,000 smartphones each day!
Moreover, every year, more and more waste is being generated on earth. We have literally become a world of waste, dumping more than 2 billion tonnes of waste in landfills, expending enormous amounts of CO2.
Indeed, it’s reckoned that if all of it were put on trucks, it would circle the world more than 20 times! We’re living in a culture where people are desperate for shiny, new goods (at high prices) and, to compound the problem, many manufacturers are deliberately building consumer goods that will be obsolete in a few years, forcing you to replace them even if you don’t want to!
That’s the bad news. The good news, however, is that more and more people are waking up to the fact that we can’t continue like this — because mining, processing and transporting at the rates we are doing are going to destroy our planet. They’ve begun looking at ways of combatting the urge to throw away, ones that have more in common with the sharing economy. The most radical of these that has sprung up is repair cafes — spots around the globe where people can take their things to be fixed.
Simple yet Radical
The principle is simple yet astonishingly radical! As grassroots initiatives, these cafes bring people together to meet and share knowledge. Volunteers come in and give their time to fix things — those who have items in their home that no longer work bring them in for repair. Amazingly, it’s reported, in the vast majority of cases, most of these things — lamps, fans, toasters, bicycles, laptops — can be made to work again (often just in a few minutes, since they only need a minor repair).
Even better, the repairs are carried out openly, so the person who owns the item can watch the volunteer — what they do, what tools they use etc. It gives them the chance not just to get their possessions back, good as new, but also to see how easy it can sometimes be to fix something and perhaps urges them to try it for themself next time.
Repair Cafes are, as someone once put it, an ongoing learning experience and part of the new ‘sharing economy’ that so many millennials are anxious to participate in. Sharing knowledge and expertise for free is actively encouraged and many of these cafes have “reading tables” where individuals can go and sit to read books on DIY.
The benefits are immense — not just the obvious ones (it’s a huge money saver) and the environmental one (you’re recycling, not producing) but the emotional one — the fact that you can get a lot of satisfaction out of fixing something you’d otherwise have to consign to the trash. All excellent reasons to start fighting the pervasive culture of waste!
Repair is not magic…
These places also remind us that the art of repair is not magic — it’s a series of skills that we’ve forgotten and need to learn again. Our grandparents and parents did it so why can’t we? (Interestingly enough, an updated version of the “Make do and Mend” pamphlet was released in the UK in recent years, in an attempt to help people through the financial crisis of 2008 and beyond).
So think hard the next time something in your home is broken. Don’t automatically assume it can’t be fixed — because sustainable living starts with conserving resources, and that means repairing and recycling them, not throwing them out.
And why not hunt down a repair cafe near you. The lamp in your cupboard that doesn’t switch on? The fan that sounds like an Apache helicopter when you turn it on? The wheel on your bike that keeps breaking? Even if you don’t have great technical skills, the chances are someone at a Repair Cafe does. It’s also a great way for younger people to meet older people — after all, they’re often the ones with the skills that they’re dying to put to good use.
And how satisfied will you feel when your beloved item can be brought home, good as new?
