Uploading the repair data from our local groups’ most recent repair cafe, it’s pleasing to see that we helped stop about 25 kg of things entering the waste stream, and perhaps ~200 kg of emissions of CO2e in the manufacture of new things.
But even more pleasing is that ~10 people shared their time and knowledge to help fix things. ~20 people cared enough to bring something along to make it last longer. Conversations were had, skills were shared, the community centre was buzzing. #BuenVivir.
@nuala We collect it on paper forms at our local cafe at the mo. Each visitor fills it in when they arrive, and we add extra details at the end. We record things like what it is, brand, model, age (if known), whether we could fix it, what the problem was, what we did to try and fix it, etc.Then I go through the paper forms each month and upload them to a software platform called https://restarters.net (disclaimer: I’m involved in the creation of that software!)
Restarters
@neil nice! I at times wondered about how to communicate about repair cafés. Given my background imagining how to communicate about the community aspects were easiest. But the actual impact I hadn’t got a handle on that would convey a message both across the network and to the general public. Keeping a database of kg waste and emission from new production avoided makes sense. Thanks for the tangible example!
@neil not that I’m involved with repair cafés, so where I say ‘how to communicate’ I also mean ‘how to perceive this’ personally. Kg waste avoided in general terms sounds more impactful than ‘replaced a button’ and ‘fixed a toaster’ that I usually see in repair café reports.