The Gap starts its own Repair Café 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?! Toss it? No way! Now you can take these to be repaired by experienced repairers at The Gap Repair Café, to be launched on 19th March at The Gap Scouts Den, Paten Road.
At The Gap Repair Café, like 70 similar Repair Cafés in Australia and hundreds globally, everything centres around making repairs. Repair Café’s mission is to encourage people to repair broken items in an effort to reduce waste going to land fill, reduce demand for more new products, reduce our carbon footprint, and encourage manufacturers to make their products repairable. “We throw away too many
‘things’ that often have very little wrong with them, which just need a simple repair to continue to be useful. Unfortunately, many people think it is easier or cheaper to just replace them. The Gap Repair Café wants to change all that for our local community”, said Erin De Brincat, the Communication Officer. After its launch, The Gap Repair Café will regularly meet on third Saturday of
Boomerang Bags The Gap & Surrounds Turns Five One stitch at a time, saving the environment, improving mental wellbeing and helping local communities. Who would have thought a local grass roots environment group, formed five years ago this month, would be still going strong? Boomerang Bags The Gap and Surrounds has gone from strength to strength, in spite of COVID challenges, repurposing donated fabric into reusable shopping bags as an alternative to the use of plastic shopping bags. This group was formed in March 2017, well before the Queensland Government passed its legislation banning the use of single-use plastic shopping bags. Since then, it has evolved into producing a range of ethical products made from repurposed donated fabric, preventing many kilograms of fabric from being sent to landfill. Even during on-again-off-again COVID restrictions, BBTGS saw increased interest. Several new volunteers came to our weekly sewing bees for what also became valuable ‘me time’ for their own wellbeing, even if some were carried out via ZOOM. Many local businesses in The Gap and beyond, too, have reached out, seeking our repurposed bags, aprons and other products. The small local business, Baker Kids, ordered aprons and shopping bags for their kids’ cookery kits, while Ucreate Art studio ordered art smocks. A kindergarten at West End ordered library bags for their graduating pupils, while the Brisbane Sustainability Agency and People’s Bench organizations sought our bags for their conference participants. Fabric donations, too, have come from different sources. Local residents are contacting us as they clear out their unwanted fabric, linen and clothes. We even received a large donation of clothing from the Royal Flying Doctors Service when they changed their uniforms. All in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, knowing that 1 kg of fabric could produce up to 10 times that volume in carbon emissions, depending on the type of fabric and how it was produced. But wait, there’s more! Funds raised through the sale of our creations are paid forward to our local communities. In the five years, BBTGS has donated almost $10,000 worth of ‘grants’ to 19 local groups, for a wide range of projects assisting both children and adults. The latest grant was given this year to help establish The Gap Repair Café, which shares our environmental goals. “Their mission, like that of 70 other Repair Cafés in Australia and hundreds globally”, says Dr Padma Lal is “to encourage people to reduce wastes going to landfill by repairing their broken items rather than discarding them. Repair Cafés also help reduce demand for more new products and encourage demand for items that are repairable, which consequently helps reduce our collective carbon footprint.” New volunteers are welcome to join us each Friday during school terms at The Gap Baptist Church, 1125 Waterworks Rd, from 9.30-12 noon. Follow us, or contact us, through our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/boomerangbagsthegapandsurrounds/. Or send us an email on bbtgs4061@gmail.com The Western Echo March 2022 Page 26
each month from 9am-12 noon, when you can bring anything that needs repairing, and work with a volunteer to repair them. Toasters, lamps, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery... anything that is broken. A range of experienced repairers will be on hand to help repair things, free of charge. All visitors may be required to pay is the cost of any parts that may need to be purchased once the problem is diagnosed (although tips are very welcome!). Repairers will bring their own tools and common consumable materials. The Gap Repair Café also aims to help neighbours to connect with each other. Erin says, “As well as getting to know the repairer helping to fix their item, we encourage visitors to enjoy meeting each other over a cuppa, as they wait their turn.” Repair Cafés depend on the generosity of their volunteers, and there is an amazing wealth of knowledge and generosity in The Gap and surrounds! While we have already received offers from people with many different skills, we can always have more volunteers, allowing us to have a roster of skilled repairers at any one Repair Café event. We are especially hoping to hear from a few more licensed electricians who can fix small household appliances. If you would like to get involved, either as a repairer or general volunteer, please send us an email or contact us via our Facebook. Where: The Gap Scout Den, Paten Park, Paten Road, The Gap When: 9am – 12pm on the third Saturday of each month, launching on 19th March. Email: thegaprepaircafe@ gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook. com/TheGapRepairCafe
website: http://www.westernecho.com.au
