Darebin Repair Cafe 

Has that electric fan that's been in the family for three generations finally given up the ghost? Toaster stopped toasting? Old faithful pair of jeans worn indecently thin? Favourite cardy been nibbled by moths? Has it become clear why that thing you rescued from hard rubbish had been thrown out?

Then bring it to a Darebin Repair Cafe. Sit with a fixer while they work on your item and show you (hopefully) how to repair and maintain it, and give you tips on how to avoid buying items that are hard to repair in the first place. 

Darebin Repair Cafe is part of a global repair cafe movement which tries to keep goods in circulation. Everything that is repaired is counted and weighed so we can record how much has been saved from landfill. So far, Darebin Repair Cafe has saved over 1.5 tonnes!

The cafe is run by dedicated local volunteers. One group of volunteers organises and stage manages each event while another group of fixers donates their time and skills to repair goods.

Sometimes we run other events in parallel on the day. These could include a test and tag service, boomerang bag workshop, maintenance session or tool tune ups.

DRC works closely with the Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes to extend the reach of both organisations and share skills to repair goods rescued by the DHRH crew.

What: The types of items that can be brought to a repair cafe depends on which fixers are available. Most often we have fixers for electrical, mechanical, gluing, sewing and jewellery.

When: On the 4th Sunday of every odd-numbered month from 10am to 1pm (January, March, May, September, November). Check our calendar for upcoming repair cafes.

Where: Locations vary from cafe to cafe. We try to rotate events around Darebin. 

How: A booking link will be sent to members before being published on the DRC Facebook group and mailing list before each repair cafe, along with a list of categories (electrical, sewing, jewellery, etc.). Book your spot then turn up at the allotted time with your broken item.

Keep up to date with DRC on Facebook.