After some 30 some years of faithful service, an orange-heavy recipe brought Cynthia Richards’ beloved juicer to a halt. At first, she got a hand squeezer to replace it. “But I have arthritis,” she explained. “I was like, ‘No, no! This is not the time for it to break on me!’” So, she brought the busted juicer to Boise’s very first Repair Café. With the help of volunteer Dale Podolan, it came roaring back to life – to Richards’ delight.
Near the top of Jack’s Urban Meeting Place, a gathering space in downtown Boise where a small army of able volunteer tinkerers, tailors and electricians like volunteer Dale Podolan was on hand. He learned the value of repair growing up on a farm, and went on to spend his career working at electronics manufacturers in the Treasure Valley. And now those skills could mean many more years for a citrus press and other items that might otherwise end up in the landfill.
All told, participants brought in 40 items. The 30 successfully repaired weighed in at 165 pounds and were worth an estimated $3,000. “We have a community of fixers who are able to fix things from broken household appliances to clothing that needs to be mended,” said Catherine Milner, an analyst with the City of Boise’s Curb It waste and recycling program, which helped organize the free event. “And so we’re just trying to pair community members with those fixers so that they can have an option other than sending it to the landfill or another diversion option.”
To read the full story, visit https://www.kuer.org/health-science-environment/2023-06-23/trying-to-keep-salvageable-items-out-of-landfill-boise-holds-first-repair-cafe.
Author: Murphy Woodhouse, KUER 90.1 Boise State Public Radio News
Image: Murphy Woodhouse, KUER 90.1 Boise State Public Radio News