alternative_culture / Alternative culture

Alternative culture

community_focused / GCommunity-focused

GCommunity-focused

zero_waste / Zero waste

Zero waste

alternative_economy / Alternative economy

Alternative economy

education_and_learning / Educational offer

Educational offer

Repair Café

Initiative phase: Well established and running

Repair Cafés are voluntary meetings where participants repair their broken items alone or together with others.

Repair Café

The Repair Café is a meeting place where people can repair their clothes, bicycles, toys, electronic devices (computers, irons, etc.) and much more. Volunteers provide tools and their experience to help participants repair their items. If they don't have anything to fix, they just have a cup of coffee or tea, or help someone else with the repair. The Repair Café embodies 3 basic aspects: 1. ecological aspect, by reducing waste 2. social aspect, by bringing together people who might never have met 3. the educational aspect (teaching people how to repair appliances themselves).

The network:

In order to ensure a sustainable design of the Repair Cafés in Luxembourg, a network of small local groups is established. This favours shorter journeys for helpers and visitors, the exchange of neighbours and neighbouring communities and offers the national Repair Café movement contacts with other groups and helpers to support each other.

So far, since February 2021, 15 local groups have emerged across Luxembourg that, after initial guidance and support from our project, are able to run autonomous Repair Cafés.

The municipalities, as well as the nature parks and other organisations, support the groups in their implementation with premises, catering and organisation.

Institution type/carrier

Non-profit organisation

Institution-Name

Repair Café Lëtzebuerg asbl


How is your initiative financed?

The coordination of the initiative is financed by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development. The local Repair Café group Atert-Wark is financed by additional funding from LEADER Atert-Wark. Here, further training and wer

Participation opportunities

The project offers volunteers to design their own Repair Cafés. They can bring in their own ideas for implementation and execution. The collective intelligence and cohesion enables the groups to create their very own Repair Café.

What’s needed

Engaged citizen Full time volunteers Part time volunteers Strong arms Expertise/knowledge A room An open space A garden

Objectives

Raising awareness among fellow citizens about the throwaway society. We want to encourage people not to buy everything new immediately, but to save resources if possible and to repair or otherwise reuse things.

Impact

1. Ecological impact, through waste reduction.

2. social impact, by bringing people together, the social and factual exchange.

3.continuing education: Teaching people how to repair appliances themselves and interesting facts around it.

Target audience

All citizens young and old

Schools

Communities

Organisations

Corporate Business

Challenges and learning successes

A big challenge is to build up the network sustainably and to enable people to use it easily (e.g. through contacts to other local groups, information on how to run the Repair Cafés, etc.).

Despite this challenge, we have managed to establish 15 local and autonomous Repair Café groups in the country since February 2021.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Gender Equality Decent Work and Economic Growth Sustainable Cities and Communities Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action

Sustainability Targets

  • Gender Equality
  • Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • Responsible Consumption and Production
  • Climate Action

Locations

Atelier communal sis
34-38 Route de Wasserbillig, L-6686 Mertert
Schluechthaus Hollerich
5, rue de l’Abattoir, L-1111 Luxembourg
Al Schoul
4, rue St. Roch, L-9687 Surré
Bastelsall vun der Schoul Bech-Maacher
29 rue des Caves, L-5404 Bech-Kleinmacher

Name of Organization

Address & geo, Contact person

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