Repair Café

Community Toolbox Canberra is committed to increasing the intensity of use of household items already in circulation. Repairing items, where possible, is a great way to do this and divert waste from landfill.

Repair cafés match you and your broken items with volunteer repairers. Repairers offer their skills for free so you only need to pay for any significant parts that might be required. You save money by keeping the item, having it repaired for free and learning something about diagnosing issues and resolving them.

Available repairers differ slightly from month to month. Our Facebook Event page and News & Events page will list available repairers before each event.

When is it held?

There are several repair cafés operating in Canberra (see the list here).

The Community Toolbox Canberra Repair Café operates on the last Saturday of each month between 2pm and 5pm (except January and December).

The dates for 2024 are:

• 24 Februrary

• 30 March

• 27 April

• 25 May

• 29 June

• 27 July

• 31 August

• 28 September

• 26 October

• 30 November

Have skills to volunteer?

We need two kinds of volunteers for the repair café:

General helpers

Repair Café Helpers assist with the running of the Repair Café. They are not repairers.

Tasks might include:

• setting up and packing up

• welcoming customers

• managing 'turn taking'

• conducting exit surveys

• answering questions

Repairers

Repair Café Repairers fix items, give advice on repairs and may teach people how to complete repairs themselves where appropriate. Appropriate licenses must be held for repairing electrical items. Repairers are needed for:

• textiles and garments

• electrical items

• tech such as mobile phones

• bicycles

• outdoor tools such as lawnmowers

• knife sharpening

• jewellery repairs

• toys

If you have other repair skills not listed, please do let us know. We’d love to be able to offer a wide variety.

What is the commitment?

Although the repair café will be open monthly on the last Saturday of the month between 2pm and 5pm, you do not have to make a monthly commitment. Whatever help you can offer would be appreciated and you will be able to register to volunteer at a session via our volunteer software.

Ready to register? Head to our Repair Café volunteer form*

* If you already have a volunteer account with us, you can update your preferences by logging in and going to the MY PROFILE tab on the top right. Select Interests and choose your preferences. Then, if you are a repairer, go to Additional Info and list your skills and interests in the Repair Skills box.

Please note that all volunteers will need to obtain a Working With Vulnerable People Card - this is free and we can point you in the right direction.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the repair café or about becoming a volunteer, please contact us.