Martine Postma

Martine Postma (born 1970) is a Dutch environmentalist and former journalist. She is best known for introducing the concept of the Repair Café.

Early career

Postma worked as a journalist, for example at the De Groene Amsterdammer.[1] She first wrote about higher education and then turned to sustainability and the environment.[2]

She also wrote a guide for the Amsterdam district Oost-Watergraafsmeer with tips on how to throw away less rubbish.[2]

Repair Café

After she had her second child, Postma started to notice how many things people in the Netherlands threw away instead of trying to fix. She decided to start a project which would help people mend their broken things.[3] This became the first Repair Café which opened in Amsterdam in 2009.[4]

Postma then set up the Repair Café International Foundation to empower local communities to set up their own projects, fielding enquiries from Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, South Africa and Ukraine. She wrote a manual and produced a starter kit.[4]

The DOEN Foundation gave the project a grant of over $260,000 in its social cohesion program, begun after the assassinations of Pim Fortuyn (2002), and Theo van Gogh (2004).[3] This enabled Postma to employ a staff of three women.[4]

In 2019 there were almost 1,700 Repair Cafés in 35 countries, with 30 in Canada, 75 in the United States and 450 in the Netherlands.[4]

In 2015, Postma published a book called Weggooien? Mooi niet! (English: Throw it away? Better not!) about the process of setting up Repair Cafés.[5]

Law reform

Whilst still involved in Repair Cafés, Postma has also joined a group lobbying the European Union to increase taxes on raw materials, which would then make repairing something a more attractive option than buying it new.[6]

Awards

Books
  • Weggooien? Mooi niet! = Throw it away? Better not!. Amsterdam: Samenwerkende Uitgevers Vof, 2015. ISBN 9789490298067.

References
  1. "Martine Postma". De Groene Amsterdammer. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  2. van der Waals, Kelli (9 September 2015). "In het Repair Cafe van Martine Postma wordt gemoedelijk gerecyclet (Dutch)". Vrij Nederland. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  3. McGrane, Sally (8 May 2012). "An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time". New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  4. Bahrampour, Tara (15 January 209). "Have old broken stuff? These people will fix it for you – for free". Washington Post. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  5. Postma, Martine (2015). Weggooien? Mooi niet!. Amsterdam: Samenwerkende Uitgevers Vof. ISBN 9789490298067.
  6. "Meet our fixing hero: Martine Postma - Founder, Repair Cafe". Sugru. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  7. van der Sanden, Heleen (6 March 2010). "Repareer kapotte spullen in het Repair Café". Genoeg. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  8. "Martine Postma No. 65 in Sustainable 100". Repair Café. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  9. "Repair Café in Ouder Amstel". Ouder Amstel Anders. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
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