Over the years, I’ve gained a reputation in my family for fixing things. Often, just a good cleaning or tightening a loose bolt is all that’s required to get an old appliance running like new. It turns out it is more about having the courage, (or stupidity) to take things apart and the patience to figure out how to put them back together again, than it is about knowledge or skill. I sometimes end up with an extra screw or two that I don’t know what to do with but if it works, what the heck!

But, when cleaning and tightening doesn’t work, it can be a real challenge to discover which part is broken and where to find a replacement. Here I’ve had mixed results, depending on the manufacturer and the availability of YouTube repair videos and or service manuals and parts.

Case in point. A few years back, my uncle asked for help with his portable humidifier that had stopped working. I brought the unit home to my workbench. After some investigation and triage the problem turned out to be a small part at the bottom of the water well that I discovered is an ultrasonic nebulizer. No idea how to fix it so I looked for a replacement. The manufacturer was singularly unhelpful, listing the part as, “NOT USER REPLACEABLE”. Yet there I was with it in my hand. Parts like it sell for $7.00 on Amazon. But I couldn’t find one that matched the specifications I was looking for. So, in the end, after much time wasted, the broken unit went to landfill for the want of a $7.00 part. My uncle was forced into buying a replacement humidifier costing more than $200.

In recent years, the Repair Café movement has become a cornerstone of sustainability, waste reduction, and community empowerment worldwide. Its roots can be traced to Amsterdam in 2009, where Martine Postma established the first Repair Café. Her vision was a welcoming venue for people to fix broken household items, guided by volunteers eager to share their expertise. The model spread rapidly, inspiring communities globally to embrace repair culture, reducing waste and fostering resilience through shared knowledge.

At a recent Kitchener Repair Café, volunteers restored more than 30 household items in a single afternoon. The Toronto Tool Library and Repair Café regularly hosts events where volunteers help attendees fix broken toasters, smartphones, and laptops. Similarly, the Ottawa Repair Café has partnered with local environmental groups to repair small appliances and educate the public on the consequences of electronic waste.

A week ago, Saturday the Brampton Environmental Alliance hosted an information table in support of Eco-Caledon’s nineth annual Repair Café event at the Caledon East Community Centre. The Caledon event boasted more than a dozen volunteer “fixers” who were kept busy stitching clothes, sharpening knives, repairing bikes and fixing lamps, fans and other small appliances.

Repair Cafés exemplify the principles of the circular economy, which revolves around extending product lifecycles and minimizing waste. Unlike the conventional linear economy, based on production, use, and disposal, the circular economy emphasizes repair, reuse, and material recovery. By teaching hands-on repair skills, Repair Cafés divert countless items from landfills and nurture environmental stewardship. These initiatives also spotlight cases where a simple battery replacement or screen repair is impossible without proper instructions, tools, or proprietary parts, forcing consumers to discard otherwise functional devices.

Right to repair legislation is needed to give consumers more choice that will normalize the circular economy. The legislation would ensure that consumers and independent repair shops can access necessary parts, tools, and information to fix products, fighting back against planned obsolescence. This helps extend the life of products, reducing the environmental impact of discarded items. It also saves consumers money by allowing them to postpone or avoid buying new. This is particularly important in these tough economic times. It also creates opportunities for neighbourhood employment and keeps money in the local economy rather than paying for new products which are often manufactured outside Canada.

In Ontario, right to repair legislation has been proceeding at a snail’s pace. In 2019, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Michael Coteau introduced Bill 72, the “Consumer Protection Amendment Act (Right to Repair Electronic Products),” aiming to compel manufacturers to provide the necessary tools, parts, and documentation for repairs. That Bill was quashed by the Conservative Government shortly after it came to power in 2019. An updated version of the Bill was reintroduced to the Provincial legislature in April 2024 as a private members bill. It’s still waiting to pass second reading. Meanwhile, this government has shown expediency in passing other pieces of legislation in a matter of days or weeks to address important issues like banning speed cameras and bike lanes while foisting more of the costs of growth on the backs of existing ratepayers, all in the name of building more “affordable housing”.

Let us know what you think. Where should the BEA be focusing its efforts in on this topic? What has your experience been with products that fail prematurely and are difficult to repair.

With increasing popularity, we are looking for opportunities to host our own Repair Cafés and other events such as clothing swaps, tool libraries and computer Windows 10 to Linux conversion sessions. Let us know if you have a Windows 10 machine that is now obsolete because it can’t be upgraded to Windows 11.

We will also be pushing the province for legislation that will support right to repair, and combat planned obsolescence. Together, let’s make it easier to extend the useful life of existing products.

Are you good at fixing things? Want to help out by being a Repair Café fixer? Join the Brampton Library Repair Café Fixer Team. Fixer Registration Form