2 minute read
Repair Cafe The Gap
Lone sparky Roger Veall, with satisfied customer, Mike
Plumbers
We Are Pty ltd
LICENSED PLUMBERS & DRAINERS • All Residential Maintenance • Hot Water Systems • Blocked Drains • Water Filters & Coolers
Call us on 3351 0016 email plumbersweare@bigpond.com QBCC Act Licence No: 1207816 ‘Your Local Plumber’
Inness Green
QBCC: 744405 ABN: 71084866376
Bricklaying and Landscaping 0414 564 520
v Bricklaying v Blocklaying v Paving v Rock Walls v Concreting v Sleeper retaining walls v Mulching & turfing v Repair work
NO JOB TOO SMALL!
www.innessgreen.com.au Toss it? No Way!
Desperately Seeking Sparkies!
What do you do with a broken toaster? Or a bike with a wobbly wheel? Or a pair of trousers that has shrunk in the cupboard?
Repair Café The Gap is giving residents of The Gap and surrounding suburbs an opportunity to get their broken items repaired, instead of tossing them away into landfill. Once a month, you can bring your broken items to be fixed by experienced and qualified volunteer repairers, at Repair Café The Gap’s repair workshop, held at The Gap Scout Den. The service is offered for free, however you may be required to purchase parts. Donations are always welcomed to help us pay for basics such as insurance, venue hire and consumables.
In the three months since its establishment, 72 items have been brought along to Repair Café The Gap for repair. Around 60% of these items have been successfully repaired, and a further 12% partially fixed. This has kept a whopping 156kg of waste out of landfill, lowered the carbon footprint of those items by extending their life, and reduced the demand for new resources from Earth’s limited supply. There has been a wide variety of items - garden tools, bicycles, lawnmowers, toys, clocks and even a Spiderman costume! But the category in the highest demand, accounting for 35% of all “patients”, is electrical items - lamps, battery chargers, slow cookers, CD players and toasters, to name just a few. While we currently have nine experienced repairers with specialized skills volunteering with us, who can fix many different types of items, we only have one licensed electrician. Under the Queensland state law, all electrical repairs must be checked and signed off by a licensed electrician for safety reasons, which puts a lot of pressure on our lone sparkie, and limits our capability to repair more items.
Do you know an electrician with a current restricted or full license, who can diagnose and fix minor problems with household appliances, and who could be available just one Saturday morning a month to volunteer with us? In return, they will get more than the satisfaction of resurrecting seemingly dead appliances. They are sure to also get the adoration of the owner whose item they save; the chance to collaborate and learn from other like-minded volunteers; and they may even forge new friendships. They would also have the opportunity to advertise their own business (if applicable). Our volunteers are also well looked after with free tea or coffee and tasty treats from the café kitchen!
If you would like to get involved, or know of a sparky who may be interested in volunteering with us, please send us an email or contact us via our Facebook page.
The next repair workshop event is Saturday, 18th June.
