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The Dutch Repair Cafe Versus the Throwaway Society

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-it-ain't-broke dept.

circletimessquare writes "Everyone in the modern world has thrown away at least one thing that was perfectly good except for an easily fixed defect, because it's just easier to buy a new one. In the Netherlands, in the name of social cohesion, and with government and private foundation grants, there is a trend called the Repair Cafe (Dutch). People bring in broken items: a skirt with a hole in it, an iron that no longer steams, and they fix each other's stuff and meet their neighbors. Now that's an idea worth keeping."

4 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. Doesn't even need to have anything wrong at all by vawwyakr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We throw away perfectly working pieces of tech. Thing accumulate around the house and just become clutter to be picked up and tossed during a spring cleaning. The problem is that newer tech makes it so that almost no one even wants old laptops and such. Then there is the risk that there is something person stuck somewhere inside and you have to spend extra effort clearing it completely to be safe if you want to give it away. I have an old laptop sitting around that I have run some clean up tools on and I'm still not quite ready to put it up on Freecycle. We really need better recycling programs for old Phones, batteries, etc. People are going to just want something new when the new thing is 100x better than the old thing even if the old thing still works.

  2. Re:Doesn't work in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not called soccer, it is called football, since you actually have to use your foot to get the ball somewhere else. What you call football is some form of rugby for sissies to afraid for physical contact.

  3. Makerspace as Repair Cafe? by Guppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This would be a great idea for a Makerspace trying to attract more people/funding.

    You've already got tools and a core of tinkerers that know how to fix stuff -- if you could draw in a broader audience from the community, you could make some extra money selling them drinks and munchies, and possibly convert some people to the hobby.

  4. LAN to online-only by naroom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It was done because it offers you the ability to play with people in either scenario, no matter how far away they were.

    No. Local play was replaced by internet play because it was seen as more profitable by the games industry to enforce DRM online.
    If it were truly about adding features, LAN / local play would still be enabled on Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, and Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games.