‘New Time for Old Stuff’ is the name of a festival that will be held in Rijeka from November 22 to 25 in Riperaj, on the occasion of the European Week for Waste Reduction. During the festival, 5 different activities and topics for all age groups will change. The aim of the festival is to raise awareness about waste avoidance and enable tools and activities to share experiences, repair skills and the adoption of practical knowledge of reuse that participants can further apply in everyday life and thus contribute to both waste reduction and the development of a sustainable society.

The venue of the festival is Riperaj, a project of Utility Company Čistoća for free repairs that works during whole year. Riperaj was founded on the model of Repair cafe in October 2019, and until today has more than 2,000 successfully repaired household items and over 50 workshops held on waste prevention and reuse in everyday life.

On the first day of the festival in Riperaj, participation in repairing your own item will be rewarded with a special canvas bag.

On the second day of the festival, an interactive children’s show about the proper treatment of waste and the preservation of our environment will be held in Riperaj. On the same day, but in the afternoon, a home composting workshop with permaculture designer and gardening teacher will be held.

On the third day of the festival, in collaboration with the public city library, a reading room of educational stories about ecology for the youngest comes to visit. Also, educational workshop will be held as part of the reading room.

Last day of the festival, workshop on converting plastic bags into a durable bag is held. Plastic bags are a big problem for the environment and it is therefore important to emphasize their recycling and reuse with simple techniques applicable in everyday life. The mentor of workshop will teach participants how to creatively convert disposable plastic bags to unique durable bags.