{"id":19017,"date":"2015-11-16T10:37:05","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T15:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=19017"},"modified":"2015-11-16T10:37:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T15:37:05","slug":"the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/","title":{"rendered":"The Repair Caf\u00e9: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fix Their Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/888735791213304\/photos\/a.888737114546505.1073741827.888735791213304\/888736997879850\/?type=3\" data-width=\"500\">\n<div class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\">\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/888735791213304\/photos\/a.888737114546505.1073741827.888735791213304\/888736997879850\/?type=3\"><p>Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Repair-Caf\u00e9-US-888735791213304\/\">Repair Caf\u00e9 US<\/a> on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/888735791213304\/photos\/a.888737114546505.1073741827.888735791213304\/888736997879850\/?type=3\">Wednesday, September 2, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Got a broken toaster, <a href=\"http:\/\/craftingagreenworld.com\/2014\/01\/14\/clothing-fashion-best-ways-patch-jeans\/\">a favorite pair of jeans with a tear<\/a>, or a vacuum cleaner that&#8217;s not picking up? More and more, our response to these challenges boils down to &#8220;toss it and buy another one.&#8221; Of course, as we&#8217;ve pointed our repeatedly over the years, tossing those products isn&#8217;t just a waste of the material of which they&#8217;re made, but also a waste of the energy, water, labor, and other resources that went into producing them. If we&#8217;re trying to live more sustainably, <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2015\/10\/10-headphone-repair-hacks\/\">making an effort to repair these items<\/a> is worth a shot.<\/p>\n<p>But isn&#8217;t cheaper to replace an item rather than fix it? Often, yes&#8230; unless you&#8217;ve got a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/repaircafe.org\/en\">Repair Caf\u00e9<\/a> operating in your area. What&#8217;s a\u00a0Repair Caf\u00e9? It&#8217;s an event where neighbors with knowledge of how to fix various items, and the tools to do it, gather to pitch in on repairing small appliances, clothes, dishes, furniture&#8230; basically, whatever they&#8217;ve got that needs fixing.<\/p>\n<p>Started in Amsterdam in 2007, the\u00a0Repair Caf\u00e9 concept has spread throughout Europe, and to other parts of the world. A new one started operating yesterday, for instance, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyprogress.com\/news\/local\/repair-caf-brings-out-community-keeps-items-out-of-landfill\/article_f8acadb2-8c04-11e5-9c0f-2be769bffe4b.html\">in Charlottesville, Virginia<\/a>. Here&#8217;s a quick overview:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/launch.newsinc.com\/?type=VideoPlayer\/Single&amp;widgetId=1&amp;trackingGroup=69016&amp;siteSection=dailyprogressva_nws_loc_sty_pp&amp;videoId=29950068\" width=\"590\" height=\"332\" frameborder=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This particular event brought together a number of community organizations, including the <a href=\"http:\/\/cvilletimebank.com\/\">Cville Time Bank<\/a> (which allows participants to trade time as a currency), and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cvillecommunitybikes.com\/\">Charlottesville Community Bikes<\/a>. Each event takes on its own flavor, as there&#8217;s plenty of room for innovation in the\u00a0Repair Caf\u00e9 model.<\/p>\n<h3>But Wouldn&#8217;t This Undermine Local Repair Businesses?<\/h3>\n<p>If you&#8217;re running a repair shop of some kind, you&#8217;re probably struggling&#8230; again, people find it cheaper and\/or more convenient to toss and replace. Would free repairs represents another nail in your coffin? Not necessarily: what&#8217;s hurting repair businesses is the &#8220;toss and replace&#8221; mindset.\u00a0Repair Caf\u00e9s help shift that mindset. As they&#8217;re not everyday events, or repair services, getting people to consider repairing items should ultimately help repair shops. I&#8217;d imagine that participating in these would be great PR&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>This concept is still catching on in the US, but there are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Repair-Caf%C3%A9-US-888735791213304\/timeline\">about 25 Repair Caf\u00e9s operating around the country<\/a>. Been to one, either with something to fix, or as a volunteer &#8220;fixer?&#8221; Tell us about your experience. If you&#8217;ve organized a\u00a0Repair Caf\u00e9, we&#8217;d love to hear more about that, too&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":19018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1699,8686,920,8685,8684,1559,8687,8683,1703],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Get Your Stuff Fixed At A Repair Caf\u00e9<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get Your Stuff Fixed At A Repair Caf\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/repair-cafe.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"The Repair Caf\u00e9: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fix Their Stuff\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Charlottesville\",\"charlottesville communiy bikes\",\"Community\",\"cville time bank\",\"neighbors\",\"repair\",\"repair business\",\"repair cafe\",\"Virginia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Living\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\",\"name\":\"Get Your Stuff Fixed At A Repair Caf\u00e9\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Repair Caf\u00e9: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fix Their Stuff\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\",\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\"},\"description\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Get Your Stuff Fixed At A Repair Caf\u00e9","description":"The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Get Your Stuff Fixed At A Repair Caf\u00e9","og_description":"The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":848,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/repair-cafe.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30"},"headline":"The Repair Caf\u00e9: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fix Their Stuff","datePublished":"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/"},"wordCount":399,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["Charlottesville","charlottesville communiy bikes","Community","cville time bank","neighbors","repair","repair business","repair cafe","Virginia"],"articleSection":["Living"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/","name":"Get Your Stuff Fixed At A Repair Caf\u00e9","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-16T15:37:05+00:00","description":"The Repair Caf\u00e9 concept brings together neighbors to repair broken, non-working, or otherwise damaged items instead of tossing them.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-repair-cafe-neighbors-helping-neighbors-fix-their-stuff\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Repair Caf\u00e9: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fix Their Stuff"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30","name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg"},"description":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+","sameAs":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}