They say everything old under the sun becomes new again, and a secondhand shop in Berlin is intent on proving the saying true.
As showcased on Instagram by Matin (@itsmatin), Euromaxx reporter Eva Janssen tried out a free repair cafe at Berlin's first-ever secondhand mall.
The NochMall, the video's captions explain, is operated by Berlin's trash service, BSR, and aims to reduce waste by selling only used items and hosting free workshops to help you fix things instead of throwing them away.
"I wanna fix these things instead of throwing them away, but I don't have the skills," Janssen says, her arms holding the in-need-of-repair items.
Janssen further shares that she learned how to sew up her old jeans at the shop's upcycling workshop, but her broken smoothie maker was a little harder to repair since it was cheaply made. In line with their mission, however, the shop offered to fix it for free and send it back to her.
"Is there something like this where you live?" Janssen asks at the end of the video.
An important question indeed, as Matin wrote alongside the video, "Our need for retail therapy and cheap thrill of it harms so many globally not to mention polluting the earth."
Whether there is something like this where you live or not, there are many ways to repair or get rid of your old stuff and reduce the amount of items that end up in landfills.
Households in the United States produce nearly 300 million tons of trash annually, and over 100 million tons of textile waste are sent to landfills each year. Once in landfills, the items take years to break down — if they do at all — pumping out loads of planet-warming pollution as they do.
Aware of this, at least on some level, many people have learned to upcycle what may otherwise end up as trash and mend their clothes — some even turning them into veritable works of art.
If you don't feel ready or able to take on these kinds of projects, you can also support circular brands that work to keep items in use and out of landfills.
Several commenters on Matin's post pointed out similar services where they live, while others simply praised the initiative.
"That's fire," said one. "We need that yesterday if not the day before."
"Ready for it," stated another.
"We all need a space like this in our towns," agreed a third.
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