If you’re tempted to ditch that busted household item that’s seen better days, a group of volunteers at Repair Café Toronto would like to have a word.
Now operating in its 12th year, the grassroots organization works with community centres, library branches and other sustainable organizations across Toronto to promote waste reduction by repairing everyday broken items.
From clothing and jewellery to furniture and electronics, Toronto residents can bring their damaged products to a repair café site where they will be assigned to sit down with a volunteer fixer. The volunteer will guide the visitor through the repair process and do their best to restore the item for free.
Repair Café Toronto co-founders Fern Mosoff, Paul Madger and Wai Chu Cheng sensed the practical skills required to fix everyday items grew endangered when they created the organization in 2013.
Today, a volunteer base of 1,200 across the city is working tirelessly to change that, one repair at a time.
“We’re aging out and we don’t want the skills to disappear with us,” Mosoff told TorontoToday of handy expertise. “It’s about trying to nurture more educational-type events and workshops where people are learning.”
“It’s community building,” she added. “People get to sit down with somebody who cares about them and their item and they have a good experience.”
“Even if they don’t get it fixed, they get an assessment so they know whether or not they should feel good or bad about throwing their things out,” Mosoff said.
More than 40 volunteers teamed up at one of the cafés during a busy Thursday afternoon inside the St. Lawrence Market tent. Among them was Tom, a dedicated member of the repair team who has spent seven years fixing up a wide variety of items.
One of his tasks this week was to repair the turntable on a record player. The item’s motor wasn’t running when it was brought into the café by Kelly Okamura, who initially discovered the player in her building’s garbage room.
While he couldn’t fix the record player entirely, Tom was able to at least begin the restoration process for a device that would have otherwise been tossed away.
“I believe the problem is with the belt,” he explained. “Sometimes, the belts either disintegrate entirely or they just age and stretch out. The belt isn’t pulling the turntable at the speed I’d like it to. It plays the record, it’s just very slow.”
“We progressed it — now we’re at the belt stage,” Okamura added. “It’ll continue to go on a repair journey, I just need to find a part now.”
Working just a few feet away in the sewing section was Prima Corindia, an environmental management student who was volunteering for the very first time at the repair café.
She was fixing up a purse that had some issues with its handle, zipper and the inner lining of the bag. By the time TorontoToday finished up chatting with Corindia, the purse was fully restored.
“I’m having such a great time,” she said. “I’ve been sewing since I was 13. I’m kind of the ‘resident fixer of clothes’ in my friend group. So, I thought: ‘Why not help others?’ I don’t live too far, so I figured this would be a good time to start.”
After the purse was returned to its owner, Annie, one of the group’s spirited volunteers, rang a bell to alert the room that another item was repaired. This practice is a long-standing tradition at Repair Café Toronto, and the sweet ringing is met with applause every time.
“It’s a very important job, you know,” Annie said of ringing the success bell.
Sharing the same space under the tent on Thursday was the Waste Reduction Group, a St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association committee that works to increase awareness of environmental concerns in the area.
The group’s programming includes the REmarket and Free Market events where locals can drop off and swap unwanted goods to prevent them from being sent to the landfill. The group will also ensure any items being tossed to the side will go to the appropriate places for disposal.
Mosoff told TorontoToday that a resident stopped by the REmarket with a giant stuffed bear and had requested it to go to textile waste. When a repair café volunteer noticed the bear, they said it seemed fixable.
“One of our volunteers was keen to take this project on and they ended up fixing it,” Mosoff said. “Now, that gigantic bear is going to go to the Salvation Army and eventually to a good home.”
Last year, Repair Café Toronto was involved in more than 140 events and workshops across the city. Mosoff said their networking strategies in enabling other organizers to run their own repair and green-friendly events has helped the group take off since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s such a variety of skills and approaches here,” she said. “With a person in a shop, it’s just them. But the fact someone across the table could have a great idea means we can work together here and that yields better results.”
