What do you do with a broken toaster, a radio that stops working, or a jumper full of moth holes - bin it? A Moorlands climate action group says: "No way!"

Moorlands Climate Action is holding a launch meeting for its Repair Café Project at Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek on March 5th from 11am - 12pm.

The group is initially planning to establish a repair café in Leek, but has plans to expand to Biddulph and Cheadle if the Leek café goes well.

By promoting repairs, Moorlands Climate Action aims to help reduce mountains of waste. "We throw away piles of stuff in this country," said Mike Jones, Project Lead for the Café.

"Even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that."

The Repair Café is also meant to put neighbours in touch with each other in a new way, and to discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. Mike said: "The basis of Repair Café is that the repairer and the person bringing in the item sit together to do the fix; repairing a hairdryer, a CD player or a pair of trousers together can also break down some of those barriers between the young and older generations, building new friendships and passing on those skills."

Mike points out that repairs can save money and resources and can help minimise CO2 emissions. He added: "But above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is. On the 5th, we will explain more about the project and invite people to register on our list of repairers, but we also need people to look after the finances, meet people on our repair days, sort the room hire and help with publicity. If we get a good turn out on the 5th, we will look to organize a monthly Repair Café, alternating between the Foxlowe and another community centre. We will be looking to work with established, local professional repairers too, signposting people to them if the repair is more complicated or requires specialist equipment".

Mike points out that there are thriving Repair Cafés in Uttoxeter, Buxton, Congleton and Macclesfield. He said: "Setting one up in the Moorlands is an obvious next step."

The Repair Café concept was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2009, and was given shaped by Martine Postma, at the time a journalist/publicist. In 2010, she started the Repair Café International Foundation. This foundation provides professional support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café. The foundation also supports the Repair Café in the Moorlands.

Moorlands Climate Action was established in 2019 to support the call for Climate Action in the Moorlands. They have over 100 members and organise a range of projects and events on the themes of Nature, Transport, Sustainable Consumer, Youth Engagement and Energy.