The Repair Movement

Bringing repair and reuse culture back into everyday life.

There was a time when repair and reuse were part of everyday life.

Things were made to last
and cared for when they broke.

The cobbler. The tailor.

The seamstress who hemmed your pants while you waited.

The person at the hardware store who knew exactly what you needed before you finished explaining.

The repair shop that fixed your toaster instead of selling you a new one.

And neighbors who shared what they had—without thinking twice.

That wasn’t just charm.

It was a way of life.

Somewhere along the way, we were told it was easier to replace than repair.

And slowly, without noticing, we lost more than repair shops—
we lost the habit of fixing, and created a whole lot of waste.

We Believe

Repair is both a radical act and a practical one.
It’s how we reduce waste, build skills,
and reconnect with the people around us.

01

Repair is knowledge meant to be shared— a bridge between generations, where skills are passed down, not lost.

02

Caring for our things is how we protect the natural world and build a better future.

03

What’s worth keeping isn’t just the object—it’s the knowledge, the stories, and each other.

04

Where Waste Actually Goes

UP TO 14M

TONS ENTER OCEANS YEARLY -IUCN EST.

Oceans & Waterways

Plastic fragments, microplastics, and chemical runoff enter rivers long before reaching the sea — often invisible until they accumulate.

40%

OF GLOBAL WASTE

Burned — incineration or open burning

Burned in waste-to-energy plants or openly in unmanaged sites. Marketed as clean, but releases dioxins, mercury, and fine particles into the air.

2B

PEOPLE LACK WASTE COLLECTION — WORLD BANK, WHAT A WASTE 3.0

Dumped — landfills & open dumps

40% of all waste ends up in open dumpsites per UNEP. Without formal collection, communities burn or dump — leaching chemicals into soil and groundwater for decades.

60–90%

E-WASTE ILLEGALLY TRADED OR DUMPED - UNEP

Sent to other countries

Shipped abroad under the label of recycling. Much is never processed — just relocated, shifting the environmental and health burden to lower-income countries.

∞

PERSISTENCE OF MICROPLASTICS

Broken down into pollution

Degrading materials become microplastics, VOCs, and heavy metals absorbed into the ground we grow food in and the air we breathe.

SOURCES: IUCN, UNEP WASTE CRIMES, WASTE RISKS (2015), UNEP GLOBAL WASTE MANAGEMENT OUTLOOK 2024, WORLD BANK WHAT A WASTE 3.0, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

What We’re Doing

We’re starting with a gathering—hosted in a small town in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

A community swap meet and repair event—where people come together to fix what they own, find what they need, pass on what they don’t, and share what they know.

Alongside local makers and fixers, we’re creating space for repair to be seen, learned, and passed on.

We are growing this —community by community—into a wider movement that brings repair culture and practical skills back into everyday life.

Details are still taking shape —
but the intention is simple:

Swap.
Repair.
Learn.
Be in community.

Why This, Why Now

01

Repair culture used to be the norm.

For most of human history, people fixed things. They traded skills, shared tools, and kept goods in circulation. Consumer culture told us it was easier to replace — but easier isn't always better.

02

Waste is a design problem.

A significant portion of what ends up in landfills is repairable, reusable, or exchangeable. The Repair Movement is building community infrastructure that makes the sustainable choice the practical one.

03

People are hungry for real connection.

There's something that happens when neighbors gather around a shared purpose — fixing, sharing, learning together. That's not nostalgia. It's a need. And it's exactly what these events are designed to meet.

04

Small and local is where change actually starts.

We're starting in Felton, CA. But the model — community-led, practical, joyful — can scale. Every repair café, every swap meet, every skill share adds to a global shift in how we relate to the things we own.

We’re just getting started.
Help us shape what this becomes.

There are many ways to be part of the movement:

Share a skill—sewing, soldering, sharpening, woodworking, bike repair, upcycling.

Lend your time—marketing, photography, social media, or helping connect people, partners, and communities through introductions and outreach—locally and beyond.

Partner with us.
Help bring this to life.

Or simply spread the word—
and help grow the community.

"This isn’t about one big solution. It’s a million small ones — made by real people, in real places, starting now.” —The Repair Movement