Broken item? Repair cafes can help

How many times have you thrown something away because you didn’t have the knowledge or skills to fix it yourself?

Repair cafes are seeking to address this issue — and are gaining popularity. The first repair cafe in the ACT opened only a few years ago, and there are now five across Canberra. In keeping with the mission of the Community Toolbox to reduce items going to landfill, repair cafes allow people to bring in broken items from their homes to be fixed by volunteer repairers. The person who brought in the item can also learn how to fix it themselves, equipping them with skills they can apply for next time.

Repairing an item means it can be used for longer, reducing the volume of unnecessary items ending up in landfill. It also lessens pressure on the Earth’s resources by reducing demand for creating and consuming new products. This is the circular economy in practice.

Items you can bring in for repair include: 

• textiles and garments
• electrical items
• technical items such as mobile phones
• bicycles
• outdoor tools such as lawnmowers
• knife sharpening
• garden and workshop tool sharpening
• jewellery repairs
• toys, and
• small furniture.

Available repairers may be different each month. Visit the Facebook page to see what you can bring along for fixing.

Beyond the Canberra context, repair cafes are a global phenomenon. There is a reference website for repair cafes around the world which features additional information on how to fix a variety of common items such as laptops, furniture and toys. Resources like this are another educational avenue that empowers communities to mend rather than make waste.

Hawker Men’s Shed and Repair Cafe

The Hawker Men’s Shed Association (HMS) was established in October 2019 as a space for community members to come together and work on meaningful projects in good company. Facilities include a fully operational workshop complete with tools, machinery and work benches housed in a series of joined shipping containers. Most of the tools have been donated by local families. The shed is open to men on Wednesday mornings, and both men and women on Friday mornings. The following video provides a brief overview of the group: Hawker Men’s Shed – YouTube.

The members of HMS have worked on a number of projects for the broader local community, including building timber frames and covers for the Hawker Community Garden wicking bed project. They also collaborated with Bunnings Belconnen to construct garden and seed beds from recycled clean pallets for Aranda Primary and Belconnen High schools.

A Repair Cafe connected to the HMS provides an opportunity for appliances and broken household items to be fixed, as well as the chance for visitors to learn handy skills such as how to sharpen their kitchen knives and garden tools. As of March 2023, this has kept around 385 items from landfill with an 89 per cent success rate of fixing items brought in.

HMS also provides an electrical test and tagging service. Moreover, there are second-hand tools, household items and locally produced products for sale. In addition, HMS members make possum and bird boxes for sale or order. The HMS is planning to increase its workshop shed capacity which will enable them to create more items and hopefully run repair cafes more often.

Building community and reducing waste through neighbourhood gift economies

A conversation with Pip Swayn

When Pip Swayn moved to Weston Creek with her partner in 2017, she was eager to find a local community group she could join to immerse herself in her new neighbourhood. She was immediately drawn to the local chapter of Buy Nothing — a global movement of hyper-local groups in which members can “give, receive, share, lend and express gratitude”  within their immediate community.

“The ethos behind the Buy Nothing Project instantly appealed to me — in part because it builds community by forming connections between neighbours, but also because it provides an accessible platform to reduce consumerism and landfill. There have been many times I’ve advertised items that I would ordinarily put in the recycling bin (such as empty egg cartons or glass jars) and more often than not they’ve been snapped up!”

Rethinking how we consume

 Pip says that Buy Nothing has helped reshape her consumption practices.

“My general practice when I need something these days is to check my local Buy Nothing group first, and if I have no luck there, then I head to the op shops. It’s only when I’ve exhausted these options that I’ll head to the department stores. While we aren’t a zero-waste household, we’re resourceful in reusing what we can so that we reduce the need to buy new — particularly items which have an endless lifecycle. This not only saves us money, but it also has a positive environmental impact.”

Buy Nothing also helps people avoid buying more of a product than they want or need. “I hate buying a whole bunch of herbs from the shops when I only need a few sprigs for a certain dish,” says Pip. “Members are generally happy to share what they have in abundance, so whenever I ask for herbs on Buy Nothing I get a few comments telling me to help myself, with directions to where I should forage in their garden. In response I like to share my recipe or include a photo to show what I made thanks to their help.” 

Not every item on Buy Nothing is given to keep. For example, Pip’s local group has a ‘ski library’: donated snow-wear and accessories are centrally stored at one member’s house and loaned out on an as-needs basis. Pip notes, “with the speed at which children grow and the high cost to buy new (or even second-hand), the ski library allows families to go to the snow without having to fork out for all the hire gear”.

Many Buy Nothing groups also have ‘travelling suitcases’ — bags of clothes, jewellery or dress-ups sorted by size that are passed between members, who swap out items as they go. These have the dual benefit of keeping items in circulation for longer while enabling members to attain items of clothing they need and gift items they no longer use.

Community connection

Beyond the environmental benefits, Buy Nothing also promotes social interaction and connection. Pip feels this is an important element that sets Buy Nothing apart from other online platforms involving second-hand goods. “While other Buy Swap Sell groups tend to operate on a ‘first in best dressed’ method, the Buy Nothing project operates differently. Members are encouraged to let their posts ‘simmer’ and select a recipient at their discretion using a more considered or creative approach. Because of this, interactions between members are less transactional and more interpersonal.”

Buy Nothing has made a major impact on Pip’s connection to her neighbourhood. “I get a lot of satisfaction from being heavily involved in my Buy Nothing group. Our members are kind, friendly, generous and selfless people. I see many of them as an extension of my circle of influence — strangers who’ve become friends, neighbours who’ve become family. It’s so much more than giving and receiving.”

This community mindset is something Pip is keen to instil in her kids. “It’s important to me that my children grow up with a strong sense of kindness, community and charity while understanding the notion of giving and generosity. The Buy Nothing project supports this notion and helps me promote these values in our household.”

Pip’s children are already embracing Buy Nothing principles. “My eldest son is well-informed on what the Buy Nothing community is about and happily knows that many of his toys, clothes and books come from it. As these items cycle in and out of our house more frequently it has become routine for us to do regular clear outs with extra willingness. At just five years old he even volunteers when something of his is ready to be passed on, more readily accepting to let go.”

Getting crafty while giving items new life

Pip’s found that Buy Nothing has been a great way to get creative while repurposing old materials.

“A few years ago a lady was giving away some round mirrors she had bought for her bathroom renovation but didn’t end up using. I somehow got the idea to decorate it by attaching matchbox cars around the edge so it looked like a sun. After collecting an assortment of orange and yellow cars from our Buy Nothing group and what felt like every Salvos and Vinnies in Canberra, I had the right amount. I gave the mirror to my eldest son and it proudly hangs on his bedroom wall, ‘made by mum’.”

Another project Pip has undertaken is the refurbishment of a cubbyhouse that had been sitting idle in another Buy Nothing member’s yard. “My partner and I completely restored the cubby for our son’s third birthday. We replaced the rotting panels using a timber bookshelf we found on the side of the road, brightened it up with a fresh coat of paint, fitted it out with grass carpet, a new slide and a brass bell to give it a new lease on life. We recently on-gifted the cubby to another family who plan to personalise it for their children to enjoy.”

So why Buy Nothing?

Pip is a strong advocate for Buy Nothing, and was not short on reasons when asked why.

“It’s more than the stuff, and it’s way more than just a Facebook group. By participating in your local Buy Nothing group you not only get the chance to give and receive, but you can learn about your local community, see and experience more of your neighbourhood, prevent items going into landfill, reduce consumerism and even save money. The Weston Creek (North) Buy Nothing group has been a great source of happiness for me, and I’m so grateful that I came across the group and have remained a part of it.”

You can find your local Buy Nothing group here.

How buying local can reconnect us with the food chain

When’s the last time you got to see where your food comes from? Majura Valley Farm Gate Shop, located at the front gate of Majura Valley Free Range Eggs, presents Canberrans with an opportunity to reconnect with food in a tangible way. Here, the community can purchase sustainable, local produce direct from the farm —with a view of chickens, sheep, and the market garden from the shop’s window.

In today’s food economy, it’s common for us to be many steps removed from the place and manner of our food’s production. Often, we think too little about the journey it has been on before it ends up on our plate. But there are real environmental, ethical and social benefits to buying local, as well as knowing the origins of what we eat.

Everything we purchase has an embedded carbon cost, and food is one of the highest product groups responsible for scope 3 emissions in the ACT. Local produce has significantly lower ‘carbon miles’ than food grown further afield, reducing emissions by minimising production, transport and storage-related carbon. Locally grown food also typically creates less waste – the shorter the supply chain, the less food and packaging is wasted in the process of distribution, warehousing and merchandising. Buying local also supports Canberran jobs and is a way of connecting with place and community.

In addition, understanding the origins of the food we eat allows us to make conscious choices about supporting sustainable and ethical practices. Generally, it’s easier to trace the origins of local produce than supermarket-bought products with long, complex supply chains. Majura Valley Farm is a great example of this. The small business is big on transparency, with comprehensive information about their farming methods freely available on their website and blog. One of their key innovations is the use of mobile multi-layered chicken sheds, which are rotated around the farm in a sustainable, regenerative system. The birds both fertilise the soil and assist with weed control, which promotes the growth of rich pastures that are then used to support ewes and lambs. Majura Valley Farm’s application of this method led to them winning the 2013 ACT Landcare Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Practices. Another way they have increased product transparency for the consumer is by introducing a ‘Laid On’ date to their egg cartons in addition to the mandatory ‘Best Before’ label — an industry first.

The Majura Valley Farm also invites a reconnection to the food chain through active community engagement. In addition to the Farm Gate Shop, they run ‘pick your own corn’ and ‘sunflower maze’ experiences each summer which provide a fun, hands-on weekend activity for all ages. Getting out to see where and how our food is grown can help remind us why sustainable farming matters —and get us thinking about the ways we can reduce the impact of our eating habits.

Why buy tools when you could borrow?

By enabling people to borrow tools rather than buying them new and discarding them later, the Community Toolbox Canberra is helping people lower scope 3 emissions and reduce their ecological and carbon footprint. The Toolbox makes it possible for everyone to get creative, try a new hobby and make their home more liveable – whilst also reducing waste. 

The idea of a tool library is not new, with the first one established back in 1943 in Michigan. In 2019, when Kathy Ehmann moved to Canberra and needed a spanner, she bought one from a hardware store but thought it would be great if there was a tool library where people could borrow these things instead of buying them. She began a long search for an appropriate location and started to build a team to assist her, including collaborating with SEE-Change. The Community Toolbox Canberra officially opened in November 2021 in Watson.

For a small annual fee, members can borrow a wide range of tools and equipment such as:

• Hand tools
• Power tools
• Kitchen tools
• Garden tools
• Leisure equipment
• Office equipment

People can also donate items they no longer use, taking them out of sheds, garages or cupboards and putting them in the hands of the wider community to use through the Toolbox. It is all run by volunteers who give their time to this cause.

So why borrow equipment rather than buy?

It’s a much better use of resources to borrow items as required rather than buying something that will only be used on a few occasions each year and kept in storage the rest of the time. The average tool only sees 13 minutes of action before being discarded. A tool library is a great example of a circular economy, where fewer resources are used because one tool can serve many people. The items are also kept in use for longer.

Borrowing tools and equipment also saves money, presents a low-risk option for trying a new activity and saves space in your home. What’s not to like?

How Thor’s Hammer is saving used timber from landfill

Thor’s Hammer is a Canberra business dedicated to recycling timber from building demolitions. It began in the early 1990s when Thor Diesendorf, then a young woodworker, noticed how much high-quality Australian hardwood timber was being dumped in landfill.

With the basics of timber salvaging mastered — “good balance, a sharp chainsaw and plenty of enthusiasm,” according to Thor — and a handful of new connections with local demolition companies, Thor opened Thor’s Hammer in 1994.

The mission then was as strong as it is now: to keep demolition timber out of landfill by growing the interest in and demand for recycled timber. And while Thor’s team has expanded from three to 35, the methods for achieving this mission have stayed the same: to foster relationships with demolition companies, to design and make high-quality furniture and joinery products, and to tell the fascinating stories of the timber that has been salvaged.

Today, Thor’s Hammer is a frontrunner in the circular economy for the construction industry, salvaging over 1000 tonnes of timber each year from historic buildings, wharves and factory demolition sites throughout the ACT and eastern Australia.

Much of this timber is supplied back to the construction and joinery industries, custom profiled and finished to their needs. Numerous homes and businesses in Canberra and further afield feature high-quality flooring, cladding, and decking supplied by Thor’s Hammer. They have become the go-to supplier for an extensive network of builders, architects, joiners and furniture-makers who appreciate the beauty and utility of recycled timber.

Above all, Thor’s Hammer is known for its capacity to design and construct furniture from recycled timber, using both modern machinery and traditional hand tools. Every year, Thor’s highly skilled woodworkers make hundreds of finely crafted pieces of bespoke furniture, including tables, beds, doors, benchtops, shelves and bookcases. These pieces are designed and built to last many lifetimes, in line with the founding commitment to keep timber (and the stored carbon it holds) out of landfill.

Building demand for recycled timber

Over the past three decades, Thor’s Hammer has seen a shift in the community towards recognising the value and beauty of the timber that can be saved from demolition sites.

When the business first started, Thor would send his teams out to local demolition sites to salvage timber by hand. Local demolition companies did not understand the potential value of the timber, so were not equipped to sort and save it.

In the late 1990s, though, Thor unintentionally transformed the practices of one of Canberra’s largest demolition companies by crafting some simple pieces of furniture from recycled timber for one of the directors. With a new appreciation of recycled timber, the company started using its own machinery to separate demolition waste on-site, leading to a welcome increase in timber supply for Thor’s Hammer.

Facilitating circularity through supply chain relationships

Supply chain relationships with demolition companies have evolved as Thor’s Hammer has gained visibility and demand for recycled timber has grown.

Currently, there are several local demolition companies that separate timber from other building materials on-site and transport it to Thor’s Hammer by tip truck. However, this method has some downsides: a significant proportion of the timber is damaged both when it is loaded by machine, and when it is tipped onto the ground; and it is labour intensive for Thor’s workers to manually untangle and sort the timbers.

To overcome these problems, Thor’s Hammer has been working closely with a number of companies to get the timbers made into packs at the demolition site and then transported on a flatbed truck.

“This increases the recovery of good saleable timber for the demolition companies, and is a game-changer for us, as it reduces the proportion of damaged timber arriving from demolitions and allows us to process stock much more quickly and efficiently,” says Thor.

The challenges of saving timber from landfill

Despite the advances achieved in recycling processes in recent years, the number of demolition companies that are consistently able to recover timber and other recyclables is still small.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, recycling requires a completely different business model and infrastructure, including specialised or modified machinery. Even with the help of machinery, it’s generally more labour intensive to separate timber during a demolition than to just crush the building and dispose of the mixed waste.

Secondly, storing and processing recycled timber requires a lot of flexibility and yard space. Thor’s Hammer needs to be able to take large quantities of timber in vastly different sizes and lengths, and then quickly adapt existing products or develop new products to suit the timber in stock.

Separating timber needs to be made more viable for demolition companies, and incentives could be introduced to encourage the practice. One possibility is to raise the tip fees for mixed-waste loads — thus increasing the incentive to separate waste on-site. This needs to be combined with a crackdown on the illegal disposal of demolition waste on private land, and close monitoring of the sites used to bury mixed waste.

The final factor is to increase demand for recycled products — which is where Thor’s Hammer comes in. The more that they can increase their visibility and turnover, the larger loads they can purchase from demolition companies at one time. But the recycling business model only works if costs are offset by reduced disposal costs and increased purchases from businesses like Thor’s Hammer.

The future of timber recycling

Thor and his team believe that there is huge potential for more timber and other recyclables to be rescued from ACT demolition sites, and that encouraging the separation of timber and other recyclable material at the demolition site is the key to achieving higher recovery rates.

And what about the future for Thor’s Hammer?

Their goals for the future remain unchanged from 28 years ago: to reduce waste, to contribute to the long-term storage of carbon, and to showcase the beauty and utility of ‘waste’ timber.

How Two Before Ten are keeping it green

The team at Two Before Ten place sustainability at the heart of what they do. In the years since its inception, the Canberra-based network of cafes has introduced a slew of initiatives to reduce waste and promote a circular economy in the day-to-day running of the business. With its motto ‘because it matters,’ Two Before Ten seeks to put people and the planet first.

Ethically sourced food

One of their most well-known sustainability initiatives is the Urban Farm. Located directly adjacent to their Aranda premises, the Urban Farm supplies Two Before Ten cafes across Canberra with fresh, local produce. Cafe green-waste is returned to the soil in the form of compost, which is used to grow productive fruit and vegetable crops in a sustainable, circular system. In addition, growing food locally reduces packaging waste and food miles. The business also has a produce exchange program, in which community members can bring in excess fruit or vegetables grown in their own backyards to be exchanged for in-store goods.

Sustainability is also at the centre of decision-making when choosing suppliers. Coffee beans are sourced only from farms that have a significant sustainability focus, whether that be environmental or social. This includes organisations that promote recycling programs, protect natural forest corridors, train farmers in soil regeneration or support women-run co-ops.

Sustainable Disposal

In 2020, Two Before Ten installed a commercial composter on-site in Aranda. The composter transforms kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, compostable packaging items and wastepaper into vitamin-rich garden compost that is used to feed the Urban Farm. This has made a huge difference in reducing waste output from the roastery and cafes.

Clever containers

In February 2020, Two Before Ten switched to using compostable cups and lids made using carbon neutral manufacturing. The business also introduced compostable bags for their retail coffee. Every part of the bags is commercially compostable including the interior lining (made from agricultural waste products), printed ink, zippers and one-way gas valve. Each cafe has a collection bin for cups and retail coffee bags so they can be returned to the soil as compost.

Two Before Ten’s work shows that sustainability is possible in an industry in which issues of food waste and unethical sourcing can be common.

Read more about sustainability initiatives on Two Before Ten’s website and sustainability blog.