How the Ottawa Tool Library keeps stuff out of landfills

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Looking to borrow a lawnmower? Need advice on how to go about a DIY project? Head over to the Ottawa Tool Library.

Established in 2014, the library is home to more than 3,000 tools and 200 volunteers.

“We have the tools that people think of when you hear a tool library with the hammer and the drills and the saws and all of that,” co-founder Bettina Vollmerhausen said. “We also have the canning equipment, the things that you would use once in a while, but you don’t need all the time.”

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Vollmerhausen, who is from Germany and has a longtime passion for the environment, said two of the library’s goals were to encourage the circular economy and to keep things out of landfills.

“We don’t all need to own a table saw,” Vollmerhausen said. “When you need it, it’s often for a project, otherwise it sits around in your garage and never gets used again. So why not share that? It’s better for your pocketbook, better for the environment, better for the community.”

The non-profit held a 10th-anniversary celebration on Boyd Avenue in Ottawa’s west end on Saturday. It included a maker market and electronics recycling event in partnership for the day with the Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Vendors sold everything from wooden spinning tops to leather work, with several makers using tools from the library’s inventory.

The library also had a tent where it sold vintage tools, some of which were 100 years old and had been donated, researched and restored by the non-profit’s “vintage tool group.”

“We will spend an entire three-hour session once a month refurbishing them,” said Rod Gillyatt, one of the group’s members. “These are tools that you can keep fixing and they last forever.”

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Having volunteered at the library for three years, Gillyatt says nine times out of 10 there will be a “gem” when the organization receives a donation box.

“You’ll find your typical screwdrivers and other stuff, and then you see this one tool and you know from the metal, from the stamp on it, from something on it, that it’s a special tool,” Gillyatt said. “We’ll all go nuts over it and, if we don’t know what it is, we’ll research it. It’s just so much fun to learn from each other.”

Gillyatt, who said his father had been a woodworker, loves “bringing things back to life” and helping clients with their home projects.

“The reactions that we get at this (vintage) table in particular fill my heart because it’s a lot of people reminiscing about their grandparents,” Gillyatt said. “It’s kind of neat to see that happen.”

Besides lending out equipment, the library offers a workshop space for people to learn how to fix their bikes, build planters or learn to use tools like saws, button-makers and ice-cream makers. In the summer, the library also runs a kids’ camp.

“It’s great when people can share those tools, but often people don’t even know how to use tools,” said Vollmerhausen, who pointed to the library’s equipment-filled room, where volunteers called “tool wizards” were going through donations on Saturday to see if anything needed to be cleaned or fixed.

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If any tools need to be fixed, Vollmerhausen says the “tool doctor” will take them into the next room, a fully stocked “tool hospital.”

The movement of tool libraries, Vollmerhausen said, started in the United States in the 1970s before making its way to Vancouver in 2011. The Ottawa location opened in 2014.

Running the non-profit was difficult during COVID-19, Vollmerhausen said, adding that, even now, community support is always appreciated as the library doesn’t receive government funding.

All that’s needed to access the tool library is a membership: $120 for a month or just $240 for a full year, with more advanced options also available. Tools can be rented for as long as a week.

Open from Tuesday to Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the non-profit is equipped with three employees and more than 200 volunteers. They include librarians who help check out equipment and tool wizards on the floor to help people find what they need and learn how to take on a project.

The non-profit also runs monthly Repair Cafés, where people can bring broken items like lamps and bikes and be paired with fixers.

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“It’s the same idea of repairing things, keeping them out of the landfill, teaching people skills that help them be self-sufficient,” Vollmerhausen said.

Katie Cottingham has been woodworking since she was five years old and began volunteering with the tool library in May. While she was originally interested in getting involved to have a space to craft, volunteering has since been a form of mental health support and has provided her with a sense of purpose.

“I love helping people,” Cottingham said. “The amount of people we help on those Repair Café days is unbelievable. I don’t know how many zippers I’ve fixed. It’s great because I’m not really into throwing stuff away.

“I think all of us love it here.”

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