Repair Café
Do you have small household items or clothing that need to be repaired or altered? Don’t throw them away — bring them to a TRU Repair Café!
TRU Repair Cafe 2024 has concluded! Thank you to all of the volunteer repair people from Transition Kamloops and the community members that brought in their items to be fixed! We'll see you again in 2025!
TRU Repair Café
TRU Repair Cafés are a free annual event organized by the Sustainability Office in partnership with Repair Café Kamloops and the TRU Library Makerspace.
Repair Cafés are part of a growing international grassroots movement that aims to reduce waste, over-consumption, and planned obsolescence.
They aim to re-ignite the do-it-together and do-it-yourself spirit, and strengthen social cohesion. They are typically run by a team of volunteers and are free for those participating.
Repair Café volunteers will assess whether your item is reparable or whether it should be sustainably recycled or disposed of. If there’s hope to mend your item, Repair Café fixers will diagnose what’s ailing it and teach you how to carry out the repair.
Accepted
- Clothing and textiles that need typical repairs. If a new zipper is needed, every attempt will be made to facilitate this, but there are no guarantees
- Small household electronic appliances and electrical items such as lamps, kitchen appliances and vacuums.
- Wood furniture that needs simple repairs — for example, loose parts or missing screws.
- Bicycles.
Not accepted
- Gas or other fuel powered devices.
- Computers or cell phones.
- Anything that needs two or more people to carry.
Repair Café Kamloops is an initiative of Transition Kamloops, a local not-for-profit dedicated to building a more resilient community. Repair Café volunteers gratefully acknowledge funding from the City of Kamloops’ climate action grant. The group is working to help Kamloops achieve its goals in the Community Climate Action Plan. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the repair revolution in Kamloops.
TRU Repair Café is part of SDG Week Canada, a week-long celebration promoting the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. The goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity.
How we fit in with sustainable development goals
This goal aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education is available and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
The Repair Café provides a platform for informal education by teaching people practical skills related to repairing and maintaining everyday items. This event encourages lifelong learning by fostering a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement.
This goal aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
The Repair Café contributes to this goal by providing a space that invites all members of the community to participate in sustainable practices. Participants work together as a community to contribute to their collective sustainability and develop strong bonds.
This goal aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
The Repair Café enables people to expand the lifespan of their items through repairs, contributing to responsible consumption and production. Repairing instead of discarding reduces waste, conserves resources, and minimizes the environmental impact of consumer goods. By actively combating the culture of planned obsolescence, where products are intentionally designed with a limited lifespan, Repair Cafés contribute to a more sustainable consumption pattern.
