Wales’ first high street-based community repair and reuse outlet in Newport has reported saving customers over £30k in its first year.
Since opening just 12 months ago, RE:MAKE Café in Newport has proved to be a successful location for people to meet friends, learn new skills, and embrace a sustainable lifestyle. It has also saved customers more than £30k by offering them the chance to borrow items from their ‘library of things’, which includes everything from carpet cleaners to pressure washers.
Project Manager, Katie Bellaris, who works at RE:MAKE Newport said: “We initially launched RE:MAKE as a place for people to bring their everyday items for repair, as well as borrow larger household items like lawnmowers and carpet cleaners.
“Not only have we achieved our goal, but we’ve also created a positive community space for people to meet, socialise and adopt our reuse and repair culture, rather than adding to the growing waste to landfill problem.
“In just one year, we estimate that we have saved around 19,700kg of carbon. It shows that people’s mindset towards waste is changing.”
RE:MAKE Café is just one of the 84 branches of Repair Cafés across Wales. Start-up and ongoing support for Repair Cafes nationally are provided by Repair Café Wales, which is funded by Welsh Government. It is just one of many initiatives supported by Welsh Government in a bid to reduce carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change, while also helping people save money.
Since committing to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the Welsh Government has been working with organisations and businesses across the country to take action on climate change.
Julie James, Minister for Climate Change said: “Climate change is a global issue with local consequences for the people of Wales, which is why we need to act now.
“We are already one of the world’s highest domestic recycling nations, with our municipal recycling having exceeded our 64% target. However, by encouraging a re-use and recycle culture when it comes to things like household appliances, bikes, and toys, we can not only further reduce waste but also tackle the climate and nature emergency – this is why the Repair Café concept has the full support of the Welsh Government.
“The Welsh Government is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. We launched our Net Zero Wales plan in 2021, setting out 123 policies and proposals, alongside commitments and action from every corner of Wales. Earlier this year we announced nearly £2bn of targeted green investment that will strengthen Wales’ response to the climate and nature emergencies over the next three years.
“The 2020s must be the decade of action. Reducing emissions more in this decade than in any previous ten-year period will be a challenge and we may need to take difficult choices. If we are to reach our target of becoming net zero by 2050, we now need to work together as part of ‘Team Wales’ and continue to make changes to the way we behave, consume and travel.
“Over time these changes will reduce our emissions and build-up our resilience to the impact of climate change to safeguard our country and our planet for future generations.”
Funding from Welsh Government has helped Katie with her ambitions to take RE:MAKE to the next level. The café regularly holds workshop sessions for children and their parents, teaching them how to reuse items that they’d usually throw away, and she wants to expand by taking these workshops to schools.
Katie added: “Making sustainability fun and showing children how you can make useful things from items you’d normally just throw away, is vital to getting young people engaged.”
Katie has also been able to grow the brand and take the concept to more towns. She’s close to agreeing new Cafes in Pontypridd and Ferndale, with the Newport branch being a training facility to help these new locations hit the ground running.
