Repair café recognised

The Mernda Repair Café has taken out a top award at the recent Neighbourhood Houses Victoria Awards.

The repair café, which has been operating monthly since it opened in April, received the Climate Action Award, recognising the importance of the work they do to minimise the amount of waste that ends up in landfill.

Chair Administrator Lydia Wilson said that the award was a well-deserved recognition for the first repair café within our municipality.

“Since it opened, the Mernda Repair café has provided our community with a fantastic way to not only fix and salvage some of their most precious items, but also encourages people to think about their waste and alternatives to simply throwing things in the bin,” Ms Wilson said.

“We are so grateful for the time and effort the staff at Mernda Community House and Whittlesea Community Connections put in to running the monthly repair cafes, but also to the wonderful team of skilled volunteers — without them, this service would not be available.

Mernda Community House Coordinator Paras Christou said she was thrilled for the repair café to have received this award.

“Our aim for the repair café is to reduce waste through empowering individuals to repair items, but to also learn to repair and upcycle items themselves. We proud to be able to support our community to live more sustainably and deliver information and educational workshops in addition to the repairs,” Ms Christou said.

“The café has also provided a space where people can come to connect and engage with others while they have their items repaired or take part in a workshop.”

The Mernda Repair café operates once a month with a range of repairers at each session that can fix items including bikes, small electrical items, clothing and jewellery.

Ms Wilson said the City of Whittlesea was proud to be supporting community initiatives that tackle waste.

“We are excited to have a local repair café right here in Mernda, helping residents rethink their waste and save money in the process by fixing items that they may otherwise have chosen to bin and replace,” Ms Wilson said.

The repair café is located at Mernda Community House, 2 Heals Road, Mernda, with the next session on this Saturday, 10 December from 10am-2pm.  

For more information, visit merndach.org.au/repaircafe

The repair café is supported by Sustainability Victoria’s Recycling Communities Fund.