Repair Kopitiam: Singapore's Community Repair Movement

Founded in 2014 by Veerappan Swaminathan and Farah Sanwari, Repair Kopitiam takes a different approach to circularity than resale or recycling: it keeps things out of the waste stream entirely, by teaching people to fix them.

The problem it solves

A lot of what gets thrown away in Singapore, fans, toasters, torn clothing, wobbly furniture, isn't actually beyond saving. It just needs a small fix and a bit of know-how that most people were never taught.

How the model works

On the last Sunday of every month, volunteer "Repair Coaches" run free community repair sessions across multiple locations in Singapore. Instead of doing the repair for you, coaches guide the item's owner through fixing it themselves, transferring the skill rather than just providing the service. It's now run by SL2 Impact, the non-profit arm of Sustainable Living Lab.

Scale

Repair Kopitiam has trained thousands of volunteer Repair Coaches since its founding and reports a repair success rate of around 55%. It has received funding support from NEA, People's Association, and Southwest CDC, among others.

Source: sl2impact.org. Verified 7 Jul 2026.