Repair Café Aotearoa NZ To Be Launched On International Repair Day

Repair Café Aotearoa NZ (RCANZ) will be launched on International Repair Day, Saturday, 16 October with events across the country both in-person and online.

“Repair Cafés are free meeting places (in person and virtual since the pandemic ), and they are all about repairing things together – visitors with broken items and volunteer repair specialists come together to repair and learn or just enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. The key purposes of RCANZ are to create opportunities for people from different cultures and generations to meet, learn, share skills and kai, to prevent stuff going to landfill and to reduce carbon emissions by keeping products in use longer,” said Brigitte Sistig steering committee member of RCANZ.

“Making products repairable and durable by design is an essential step toward waste minimisation, decarbonisation and climate justice, a goal that RCANZ supports actively with our collaborators,” said Brigitte Sistig.

Repair Café Aotearoa NZ advocates for the Right to Repair and the shift to a circular economy.

The Right to Repair is a global movement to require good design, so products are designed to perform, but also to last and to be repaired whenever needed. It is advocating for repair to be accessible, affordable and mainstream, where everyone has access to spare parts and repair manuals for the entire lifetime of a product.

Dr. Paul Smith from Consumer NZ notes that, “You own the products you buy and it’s up to you what you do with them. So, if something breaks, you should be able to choose to repair it. You’re more likely to do that if the repair is inexpensive and easy to do. Unfortunately, manufacturers have been chipping away at this for decades, making it more appealing for us to buy a new replacement. It’s led to far too many resources getting wasted in products that become landfill too soon. And it’s us, as consumers, who pay the price while manufacturers reap the profits.”

Kahurangi Carter, Tumu Here – Kaiārahi Para Kore (Advisor Manager) with Para Kore “At Para Kore we advocate and educate from a Māori worldview for a world without waste. We are partnering with Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand to support the return to circular economies, where repairing our stuff is normal. Our vision is for our marae and iwi hubs to have repair cafes, tool lenders and wānanga all over Aotearoa. We can care for Papatūanuku and Ranginui through repairing.”

Estella Lee from the Chinese Conservation Education Trust (CCET) explains that “among the new immigrant Chinese, there are many retirees with great skills and knowledge, who have found their role in the community through being part of Repair Cafés. CCET’s Repair Cafés not only educate people on saving energy, resources and protecting our mother earth, they also create an opportunity for Kiwis and Chinese people to understand each other more and subsequently create more harmonious communities.”

Repair Cafes are an accessible solution to address waste and climate change. They build community connections and resilience, endorse New Zealand’s DIY culture and lighten our footprint on the earth.

International Repair Day

Launch of Repair Cafe Aotearoa NZ on International Repair Day, 16 October 2021 - Online Event

Bikebox Waiheke- Int. Repair Day Online Event - Waiheke Island - Online Event -

Repair-ED: a repair café for International Repair Day - Wellington

Fix It Saturday - 16 October 2021 - Nelson

Spring Fair Repair - Christchurch

Cromwell Repair Event - Cromwell

Repair Cafes planned for International Repair Day in Aotearoa, but cancelled because of COVID-19 Alert Level restrictions:

Wellsford Repair Cafe - Northland Peninsula

Devonport Repair Cafe - Devonport/ Auckland

Mending Station/ Repair Cafe @ Inner City Market - Auckland Central

October Repair Co-Op - Hamilton 

Napier Repair Cafe - Napier

Otaki Repair Cafe - Otaki 

For further background information see:

Why the Right to Repair is big news (Consumer NZ)

What You Should Know About Right to Repair (New York Times)

Right to repair movement gains power in US and Europe (BBC)

Right to Repair working group in Aotearoa (WasteMINZ)

Pathways for Right to Repair in Aotearoa New Zealand (2020)

Repair Cafe Aotearoa NZ facebook page

Repair Cafe International Foundation

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