Saturday 15 June. Soleuvre. A number of stalls are set up on the Place de l'Indépendance for the solidarity market organised by the Sanem local authority. One of them attracts a good number of visitors: the Repair Café. Two stands house the volunteer repairers who come to repair household appliances, clothes and bicycles instead of throwing them away.
Because that's the mission of the Repair Café Lëtzebuerg non-profit association: to give objects a second life in order to reduce waste and raise awareness among Luxembourgers of the concept of the circular economy. "It's a battle that needs to be fought," says the association's chairman, Marcel Barros.
The first Repair Café in Luxembourg was organised in 2013. The association was created in 2016 and has been supported from the outset by the Centre for Ecological Learning Luxembourg (Cell). "At one point, we said to ourselves that we needed to organise Repair Cafés more systematically. We were inspired by our Belgian friends, where the system works well", says Marcel Barros. Today, the initiative has grown and Repair Cafés can be organised in companies, in secondary schools, and above all by local authorities in Luxembourg. "With the Climate Pact 2.0 system in place, it's in their interests to organise Repair Cafés, as this will enable them to meet some of their objectives in terms of the circular economy," explains the association's chairman.
Coffee machines, hoovers, children's toys
The municipality of Sanem has seized this opportunity. "We have a register of around forty volunteers who come in as and when they are available," explains Olivier Schildgen, a local authority employee in the ecology department. On 15 June, five repairers turned up, including two retired electro-mechanics. For them, taking part in the Repair Cafés "is a way of ensuring that we don't lose our skills, by helping people along the way". The Haus vum Vëlo (or Bicycle House), which had just opened its doors in Belval, also joined the event and two of its volunteers were on hand to repair the bikes of young and old alike.
On the table of the two former electro-mechanics, the objects went by. First, a coffee machine that unfortunately could not be repaired, as a replacement part had to be ordered, "but we identified the problem: the water inlet no longer works", explains its owner. "At home, I would never have dared look inside my machine to try and repair it. Here, I have confidence because these are people with skills and experience," she explains.
A resident of Bascharage then arrived with a hoover that wouldn't turn on. She explains that "it's my first time here. I heard about Repair Cafés from my neighbour, who is a volunteer sewing repairer". Since she doesn't like to throw things away, she came to see if it was possible to save her household appliance. "I'm also planning to go to a workshop to learn how to repair," adds the 42-year-old translator.
Once the hoover was on the table, the repairman plugged it in and saw that it wouldn't turn on. He took out his screwdriver, turned the machine over and removed the base to gain access to its mechanical innards. Surprised, he took out the first spare part, then a second and a third. "Oh yes, my husband looked at it at home... he must have put the parts back inside as they were.” Because they're a do-it-yourself couple, but not when it comes to household appliances. Once again, they had to buy a part to get the hoover working again. Barros explains that the Repair Cafés also enable data to be collected on the products that are brought in for repair: "We compile statistics so that, for example, we can tell the manufacturers that on such and such a model of their product, it's always the same part that's faulty".
Two-thirds of items repaired
As the morning progressed and the volunteer seamstress set about repairing a torn child's coat, a mother waited her turn to see if one of her daughter's toys could be repaired. "A friend told me about the Repair Café and as we weren't far away with the kids, we came along." She's holding a children's micro-karaoke machine in her hands and explains that she "looked online to buy another one, but they didn't have the same model any more and the others were much more expensive. It's also partly for economic reasons that I come here, that's what I explained to my daughter."
The little girl seems to have already been educated on the subject, as her mum recounts that "when I wanted to change my phone, she told me: 'No, Mum! At school, we learnt that it's dangerous to go and get some of what it takes to make phones [probably cobalt, comments her mother], so as long as it can make calls, you should keep it." I was very surprised, but proud too."
In total, during that morning, Soleuvre's Repair Café received 15 repair requests, ten for electronics and five for sewing, and ten were successful. This figure is perfectly in line with the average: "Two-thirds of the items brought to us are fully or partially repaired," says Barros.