Martine Postma (born 1970) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

environmentalist and former journalist. She is best known for introducing the concept of the

Repair Café Repair Café is an organisation with venues set up to provide people with a place to work on repairing objects of everyday life, such as electronics, mechanical devices, computers, bicycles, and clothing. Repair Cafés are typically held at commu ...

Early career

Postma worked as a journalist, for example at the ''

De Groene Amsterdammer ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' () is an independent Dutch weekly news magazine published in Amsterdam. It is one of the five independent opinion magazines in the Netherlands, alongside '' HP/De Tijd'', '' Vrij Nederland'', ''Elsevier'' and the Jewish ...

.'' She first wrote about higher education and then turned to sustainability and the environment. 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. This became the first

which opened in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 2009. 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 The DOEN Foundation (in Dutch ''Stichting DOEN'', from Dutch ''doen'' = to do, to act, take action) is a Dutch foundation supporting initiatives in the field of culture and cohesion and in the field of green and inclusive economy. The focus ...

gave the project a grant of over $260,000 in its social cohesion program, begun after the assassinations of

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in ...

(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!'' () about the process of setting up Repair Cafés.

Law reform

Whilst still involved in Repair Cafés, Postma has also joined a group lobbying the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

to increase taxes on raw materials, which would then make repairing something a more attractive option than buying it new.

Awards

Amsterdam-West Amsterdam-West () is a Boroughs of Amsterdam, borough (Dutch: ''stadsdeel'') of Amsterdam, Netherlands, to the west of the centre of the city. This borough was formed in 2010 through the merging of four former boroughs Amsterdam Oud-West, Oud West, ...

gave Postma the Wijkideeprijs in 2010. *Dutch newspaper ''

Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). '' ...

'' put Postma in its 'Sustainable 100' list for four consecutive years between 2012 and 2015. *

Nationale Postcode Loterij The Nationale Postcode Loterij (National Postcode Lottery) is the biggest charity lottery in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1989 by Novamedia, a marketing agency that sets up and runs charity lotteries. As required by the Dutch government, fo ...

gave Postma an award in 2013. *The 2022 Leopold Kohr Prize

Books

* .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postma, Martine 1970 births Living people Dutch environmentalists Dutch journalists