Martine Postma

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. 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. This became the first Repair Café which opened in Amsterdam 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.

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.

Awards Amsterdam-West gave Postma the Wijkideeprijs in 2010. Dutch newspaper Trouw put Postma in its 'Sustainable 100' list for four consecutive years between 2012 and 2015. Nationale Postcode Loterij gave Postma an award in 2013. The 2022 Leopold Kohr Prize

Books .