Sparkof lifefor goodsat repaircafe

Ashfield Village Hall hosted a Transition Stirling repair café on Saturday.

Volunteers used their skills to repair small electrical items, clothing and textiles, jewellery and furniture, in order to reduce the number of objects that end up in landfill.

Transition Stirling, through their ‘share and repair’, project brings broken items back to life and helps people hone their own repair skills.

Ashfield’s hall was packed with locals from the village itself and neighbouring communities who brought along items such as vacuum cleaners and hairdryers which were restored to working condition.

Home-made soup and cakes were available at the event.

A report released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) earlier this year, revealed that British households create over 26 million tonnes of waste each year, the weight of around 260 large cruise ships.

Of the 26m tonnes of waste produced in the UK, 12 million tonnes are recycled and 14 million tonnes are sent to landfill.

This gives an average recycling rate of 45 per cent. Scotland is the poorest performing part of the UK, recycling 43 per cent of household waste.

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan Tory councillor Alastair Majury said: “With the average person in the UK throwing away around 400 kilograms of rubbish per year, events like the repair café are much needed and appreciated. ”

Transition Stirling offers a small item repair service through the tool library in Stirling Arcade. They will attempt to repair most items, including small electrical goods, but not large electrical items such as white goods, clothing or IT equipment. A small fee is charged and materials required are not included.

To discuss a repair email: info@transitionstirling.org. uk or phone 01786 357 171.