Martine Postma
{{short description|Promoter of the Repair Café concept}}{{Infobox person
| name = Martine Postma
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1970}}
| nationality = Dutch
| occupation = Environmentalist, journalist
| known_for = Creating the Repair café
}}
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.{{cite web |title=Martine Postma |url=https://www.groene.nl/auteur/martine-postma |website=De Groene Amsterdammer |accessdate=28 April 2019}} She first wrote about higher education and then turned to sustainability and the environment.{{cite news |last1=van der Waals |first1=Kelli |title=In het Repair Cafe van Martine Postma wordt gemoedelijk gerecyclet (Dutch) |url=https://www.vn.nl/in-het-repair-cafe-van-martine-postma-wordt-gemoedelijk-gerecyclet/ |accessdate=28 April 2019 |work=Vrij Nederland |date=9 September 2015}}
She also wrote a guide for the Amsterdam district Oost-Watergraafsmeer with tips on how to throw away less rubbish.
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.{{cite news |last1=McGrane |first1=Sally |title=An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/world/europe/amsterdam-tries-to-change-culture-with-repair-cafes.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |accessdate=28 April 2019 |work=New York Times |date=8 May 2012}} This became the first Repair Café which opened in Amsterdam in 2009.{{cite news |last1=Bahrampour |first1=Tara |title=Have old broken stuff? These people will fix it for you – for free |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/01/15/dont-throw-out-that-old-clock-these-folks-want-keep-it-ticking/ |accessdate=28 April 2019 |work=Washington Post |date=15 January 209}}
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.
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). This enabled Postma to employ a staff of three women.
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.
In 2015, Postma published a book called Weggooien? Mooi niet! ({{Langx|en|Throw it away? Better not!|italic=yes}}) about the process of setting up Repair Cafés.{{cite book |last1=Postma |first1=Martine |title=Weggooien? Mooi niet! |date=2015 |publisher=Samenwerkende Uitgevers Vof |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789490298067}}
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.{{cite web |title=Meet our fixing hero: Martine Postma - Founder, Repair Cafe |url=https://sugru.com/content/meet-the-woman-who-inspired-a-global-fixing-community |website=Sugru |accessdate=28 April 2019}}
Awards
- Amsterdam-West gave Postma the Wijkideeprijs in 2010.{{cite news |last1=van der Sanden |first1=Heleen |title=Repareer kapotte spullen in het Repair Café |url=http://www.genoeg.nl/nieuws/nieuwsarchief/bezoek-de-repair-cafes-in-amsterdam/ |accessdate=28 April 2019 |work=Genoeg |date=6 March 2010}}
- Dutch newspaper Trouw put Postma in its 'Sustainable 100' list for four consecutive years between 2012 and 2015.{{cite web |title=Martine Postma No. 65 in Sustainable 100 |url=https://repaircafe.org/martine-postma-nr-65-in-duurzame-100/ |website=Repair Café |accessdate=28 April 2019}}
- Nationale Postcode Loterij gave Postma an award in 2013.{{cite web |title=Repair Café in Ouder Amstel |url=https://ouderamstelanders.nl/repair-cafe-ouder-amstel/ |website=Ouder Amstel Anders |accessdate=28 April 2019}}
- The 2022 Leopold Kohr Prize
Books
- {{cite book |title= Weggooien? Mooi niet! |language= Dutch |trans-title= Throw it away? Better not! |location= Amsterdam |publisher= Samenwerkende Uitgevers Vof |date= 2015 |isbn= 9789490298067 |display-authors= 0 |first= Martine |last= Postma |authorlink = Martine Postma }}.