First Holzgerlinger Repair Café: Repair instead of throwing away!

First Holzgerlinger Repair Café: Repair instead of throwing away!

On Saturday morning, a new repair café was opened in the Böblingen district, more precisely in Holzgerlingen. This initiative aims to counteract the throwaway mentality and spread knowledge about repairs. The first event was very well received; In the first hour, 14 guests came and worked together to repair defective devices. Included were, among other things, an extension cable, a curling iron, a straightening iron, a floor lamp, a mini fridge, a radio and a rolling suitcase. The event took place in the student café of the Schönbuchgymnasium. The organizational team consists of Harald Mattes, Heinz Renz, Antonietta Scarano, Bernd Wanner and Peter Hartkopf. The intensive preparation for the opening spanned almost a year, during which, among other things, repair sheets were created in order to offer guests structured support.

The Repair Café in Holzgerlingen is part of the added value without plastic initiative and takes place once a month. The next event is on October 18th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the W3 youth and cultural center. No registration is required, which makes participation uncomplicated and inviting. There will also be an additional repair café in Gärtringen on September 23rd from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., also without prior registration.

Learning and repairing together

The Repair Café provides visitors with a wide range of tools and materials to repair a variety of items, including clothing, furniture, electrical equipment and bicycles. Visitors have the opportunity to work alone or with others to repair their broken things. Volunteers with extensive repair knowledge are available to support and instruct those interested. This not only promotes the appreciation of repair knowledge, but also learning together.

At a time when many items in Europe are thrown away even though they could easily be repaired, the Repair Café plays an important role. It is an initiative that aims to raise awareness of sustainability and circular economy by offering people the opportunity to use broken items for longer, thus saving resources and CO2 emissions. Loud repaircafe.org The first repair café was founded by Martine Postma in Amsterdam in 2009 and has since developed into a global movement.

Engage and inspire

In Holzgerlingen, the Repair Café is supported by over 30 volunteer repairers who contribute expertise in areas such as electrical engineering, woodwork, mechanics and textiles. The idea behind it is to promote a change in mentality towards a more sustainable society. In addition to helping repair their own devices, visitors can also help others or relax with coffee and tea while getting inspiration from books on repair and DIY.

These initiatives are not intended to compete with professional repair services, but rather to stimulate interest in repairing and encourage people to find an alternative to throwing things away. The Holzgerlinger Repair Café is not only a place for practical help, but also a space for community education and valuable knowledge exchange.

The dedicated organizers and repairers are looking forward to welcoming many more interested parties to the upcoming events and thus making a joint contribution to a more sustainable world.