The community resource in Surrey invites visitors to bring in their broken products as varied as vacuum cleaners, jackets and bicycles, which are then assessed and where possible repaired.
The café is a collaboration between The Centre for Sustainable Design at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham Town Council, Farnham United Reformed Church and Transition Town Farnham aiming to “protect and safeguard the environment by reducing waste disposal”.
It is also part of the global repair café movement, led by Repair Café International Foundation, which aims to bring together people to extend the life of products that would otherwise end up as waste.
Professor Martin Charter, director of the Centre for Sustainable Design at the University for Creative Arts and chair of the Board of Trustees of Farnham Repair Café said: “Our repairers are highly skilled and do a brilliant job. To date we have organised 25 sessions, with more than 1,000 visitors through the doors since our launch in 2015. We have completed 299 repairs at a 63 percent rate with over 900 Kg being diverted from landfill.
“There are around 30 repair cafes in the UK, and I believe we are the first to get charitable status. The concept of repair cafes is growing, and there are now between 1,800 and 2,000 globally. It is great to have received charity status as it means that the repair café can continue to support and benefit the needs of our community.”
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