Don’t chuck it – fix it!

Save the earth’s resources and make your money go further by letting your items live longer, says Katie Leak

It's often easier than you may think to repair broken items yourself. Youtube is your friend, if you are not sure how; it has millions of 'how to' videos on how to mend just about anything.

Or if you're not confident about DIY, take your broken thing(s) along to one of the local free repair centres. Every month Dorking and Reigate run Repair Cafes where they will fix your household items. There is a suggested donation of £5 an item. You'll find the cafes at the following venues:

• Dorking Christian Centre: 10:30am-12:30am first Saturday of the month 
• Reigate 3a, The Facade, Holmsdale Road: 11am-2pm last Saturday of the month

Here's a list of just some of the items that have been fixed by the cafes:
Coffee bean grinder, milk frother, lamps,Kenwood mixer, Christmas lights, DAB radio, Dyson hoover, camping torch, train set, coat repair, bike, toaster, lawn mower, teddy bear, clock, sewing machine, fan, handbag, belt...
 
Last year, according to the Surrey Environment Partnership, we chucked the equivalent of 24kg per household of textile and small electrical waste in Mole Valley. This year let's all do what we can to reduce that number and save ourselves some money.