Repair Cafe celebrates 10 years of fixing up instead of throwing out

What was started as a way to encourage people to learn how to take care of their belongings has evolved into a global movement against consumerism. Hazel Sheffield speaks to Martine Postma about how the cafes are challenging people’s behaviour

The Belfast Repair Cafe started in 2017 to help people learn how to take care of their belongings (Neal Campbell)

Lee Robb didn’t know you could get emotional about a toaster. But she still remembers the moment she watched a repairman bring a broken machine back to life.

It was at the first Repair Cafe that she set up with Chris McCartney in Belfast, and Robb was making tea for the volunteers who had given their time and skills to help fix people’s broken goods. One of the fixers thought that he had repaired a broken toaster, but he needed a piece of bread to check, so Robb ran and got one.

“Me, David and the people who brought the toaster watched it as it was toasting,” she remembers. “And then it popped up! I had no idea that I could feel emotional about a piece of bread that was being toasted. But there you have it!”