A radio on the blink, a pair of ripped trousers or a lamp that refuses to work. These are the kinds of items we tend to throw away but could be repaired if only we had some help. From a Repair Café, for example. ‘There is a huge amount of interest in this system not only because there are so many things to repair but also because of the sociable atmosphere’, according to Joëlle Grimmeau from the Repair Café in Linkebeek. ‘In our contemporary consumer-oriented society we buy, use up and throw away. People have lost the habit of repairing things and lots of them would not know where to start’, claimsClara Moeremans from the Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken (Conscious Consumption Network). A Repair Café also brings people together. ‘I think it is a fine idea. It is great to see French-speakers and Dutch-speakers repairing things together in a relaxed atmosphere’, says one of the participants, Thomas Steenhouwer. (RK, feb 2014)