Photo by Bohdan Kadun on Unsplash (illustrative)
Repair Café International reported in its 2024 annual report, published in 2025, that 485 new Repair Cafés started up around the world in 2024, the most in any year since the first one opened in Amsterdam in October 2009. At these free community events, volunteers help neighbors fix broken lamps, toasters, coffee makers and other everyday items.
Key facts
485 new Repair Cafés opened in 2024, beating the previous record of 410 set in 2023.
At the end of 2024, 3,446 Repair Cafés were active in more than 50 countries.
An October 2024 analysis of 208,491 logged repair attempts by the Open Repair Alliance found that 53% of products were successfully fixed.
The Alliance estimates that about 4,000 community repair groups worldwide complete around 190,000 successful repairs a year.
Why it matters
Each successful repair keeps a working object out of the bin and avoids the materials and emissions of buying a new one. Repair Cafés also pass on practical skills and bring neighbors together.
Worth noting
Repair Café International's own estimate of about 740,000 kilograms of waste avoided in 2024 is based on average assumptions, not measured weights. The repair data also show that missing or expensive spare parts are the most common reason repairs fail.