On the third Sunday of every month, a contingent of volunteers will gather at the pavilion at Victoria Park to share skills and help other community members to repair their broken items. 

Organiser Nikki Marshall said there had been a number of very well attended meetings of people who had gathered to speak about how to reduce waste. 

The repair cafe is an initiative of the community and is also supported by Hepburn Shire Council. 

“We really encourage people to come along if they have skills to share or if they have items sitting around they would like to fix,” she said. “The idea is about reducing waste, which there is a much greater awareness of since the ABC’s War On Waste program.”

Ms Marshall said the idea behind the cafe was for people to reduce their waste by repairing items that have broken rather than sending them to landfill.

“We will be weighing everything that comes in so at the end of each session we can see how much we have diverted from landfill. We live in a time of planned obsolescence where things are not made to last, so what we are trying to do is make sure things can last, if possible.”

Ms Marshall said the cafe would also help people to become confident in repairing their own items, while fellow organiser Danny Kinear said the cafe would help to bring the community together. 

“It’s also about the inter-generational factor, so older people who have the skills and the knowledge to fix items can share their knowledge with younger people.”

There will be a number of tables at each session, with the first cafe to include electrical and mechanical repairs table, bike repairs, a sewing table and a knife and scissor sharpening table. 

But the range of different tables depends on the skilled community members who attend and are able to assist. 

The inaugural repair cafe will be held on Sunday October 21 from 1 to 4pm.

For more information, contact daylesfordrepaircafe@gmail.com