Reuse, repair, relove! Ratoath has sustainability all sewn up

Ratoath is leading the way in sustainability with two new initiatives recently created to encourage all generations to join together to repair and reuse what they already own.

The Ratoath Community Repair Hub project last weekend launched a sustainable and ethical repair and reuse initiative in the community facilitating older citizens to productively utilise their skills and abilities to repair and recreate items, to teach reuse, and to in an arena of social conviviality and sharing.

Ratoath Community Repair Hub enables and promotes older people to participate and contribute as active citizens and provides the opportunity to build their capacity and potential to fulfil positive roles in their community.

"We will host weekly training work-shops and bring-along-events, led by our older citizens, teaching our entire community how to reuse and repair, in a sustainable and ethical way, items already in their possession or donated through the Community Centre," said Eilish Balfe, a spokesperson for the programme.

"As we fight the throw-away-culture of the fast and replaceable commodity, we are providing a new inspiring way of repair and reuse from simple repair to creating fresh designs from used and existing possessions. So instead of going out and buying more, or going without, we promote endearment and engagement with the recycled and the unique," she added.

Volunteers will be on hand with the tools and materials to help make needed repairs on clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, etc" explained Eilish.

"Our volunteers with life-learned experience have repair skills in all kinds of fields," she added.

Also contained in the workshops and learning will be information on the wasted resources, costs, and carbon footprint the throw-away culture leaves on communities, and the damage done.

The Community centre will also host an ongoing regular crafting event in that will include restored items to encourage and promote reuse where residents can bring or buy pieces and give them a second life as Eilish explains:

"We have a large theatre attached which is an ideal location for a sustainable crafting event where local citizens can showcase what they have restored.

"Knowing how to make repairs is a skill quickly lost. This is a threat to a sustainable future and to the circular economy, in which raw materials can be reused again and again."

As well as the repair hub, a new sustainable and ethical fashion initiative in Ratoath aims to make the younger generation "fall back in love" with clothes they already own.

Ratoath Repurposed Ethical Fashion has created a sustainable and ethical fashion initiative in the community targeted at 16 to 23-year-olds training them to reuse clothes they already own by styling them differently or flipping them, or by re-imagining them and moving them on. The programme was awarded €5,000 from The Coca Cola Thank You Fund.

"As we fight the throw-away-culture of the fast-fashion industry, we are providing a new inspiring way of fashion shopping and creating fresh designs from used clothes," said a spokesperson for the workshop.

"So instead of going out and buying mass produced clothing, we promote endearment and engagement with the recycled and the unique," they added.

As well as bringing in a qualified textile designer, the project has two very experienced local seamstresses from the community who are passing on their skills and knowledge, and years of experience.

Apart from the practical skills, participants also learn about on the realities of the working conditions and hardships of many in the fast-fashion industry in developing countries.

"In today’s life, our younger people live in a world of fast fashion, cheap and trendy clothing that samples ideas from celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores or online at breakneck speed for consumer demand.

"This encourages consumers to buy huge amounts of items, discard them after one or two wears, and then come back to buy more items.

"This is exploitative especially to women. Fast fashion also greatly impacts the environment and the fashion industry is responsible for 8-10 percent of global carbon emissions per year with a huge amount of unwanted clothing ending up in landfill every year. It’s estimated that the textile industry produces 1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year and nearly 1.5 trillion litres of water."