Repair Cafe to pop up in Anglesea on Saturday

REPAIR Café Surf Coast is gearing up for their next event in Anglesea this weekend, which will include the popular Repair Kids Corner.

With new volunteers on board, the Repair Kids Corner was trialled in May, with 13 children joining in.

Volunteer Dianne O’Dwyer was thrilled with the outcome.

“The kids had lots of fun deconstructing the items,” she said.

“They were particularly interested in the electronic items; a fan, coffee machine, modem and CD player. It was great to see their creativity emerge as many of the parts were reused to make robots and a necklace.”

Co-founder of the local group, Jo Murray, said she was pleased to see the expanded program on offer as a part of Repair Café Surf Coast.

“It’s great that we can provide a space for kids to start learning about repairs and the reuse of old or damaged items in a hands-on way.

Repair Cafés are community driven initiatives that encourage people to bring along items to be repaired by local volunteers, with the aim of reducing the number of items going to landfill.

As of July 1, a statewide change means electronic waste can no longer be disposed of in kerbside bins or landfill but will be accepted for free at transfer stations across the Surf Coast Shire.

“We have a number of volunteers who are trained to help with electrical repair,” Ms Murray said.

“With the change to the disposal of e-waste, we’re hoping we can help get some of these items repaired and back in use.”

The next Repair Café Surf Coast session will be held at Anglesea Memorial Hall, McMillan Street, Anglesea on Sunday, July 7 from 10am-2pm. Bring along your broken and worn out items and one of our volunteers will work with you to try to fix it.