Two weeks ago, I talked about sustainability in the ways we consume and what we do with things that we have outgrown — whether physically or otherwise. This week, I want to examine the concept of repair. I almost see “repair” as its own stage of the process — probably “reduce, reuse, repair, recycle.”
After contemplating the idea of “repair” being its own step, I realized that could be someone else’s idea and I may have misremembered it as my own thought. Turns out there are lots of suggestions to expand the list of “The R’s of sustainability,” as far as “reinvent/rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse/repair, recycle, replace/rebuy.” That is to say, it is not as if those strongly interested in sustainability have not thought of this, but I am not sure that kind of information makes its way to everyone.
On the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s webpage for “reduce, reuse, recycle,” there is a single bullet point in a large list that says “Maintain and repair products, like clothing, tires and appliances, so that they won’t have to be thrown out and replaced as frequently.” While I respect the conciseness there and the likely reasons for it (if it looks super long we would not read it at all), I think people do not always think about the simple ways we could be more sustainable until we are presented with those ideas.
This is where repair comes in. Repairing allows you to continue to reuse something, which means you create less waste. It also keeps you from buying a new thing, which means it reduces your consumption, too. Think about if we threw away our cars when the tires wore out and needed to be changed, because “the next car will have tires and will work fine.”
This idea sounds ridiculous. Aside from the fact that it seems silly to throw away a whole vehicle because of one issue, cars are expensive. It is cheaper to repair them, which saves money. “Well, the comparison you’re about to make breaks down because I don’t know how to work on cars, and I take my car to the auto shop.” Do you take your clothes to a seamstress or tailor, other than when you want something hemmed or adjusted? Do you have the soles replaced on your shoes when they wear down? Do you have furniture repaired — even if it was not Grandpappy’s desk or your mother’s kitchen table? Do you get small appliances — more than, say, three years old — assessed, or do you generally just decide to get a new one when they stop working? Moreover, do you make conscious choices about buying things that are repairable rather than needing to be replaced? What is it that makes us decide that some things are worth fixing and others are not, if it is not about how broken they are or how easy it is to have them repaired? And before you argue about the ease of repair on some of these things, it is rarely harder to take your object to have it fixed than it would be to go a similar distance to purchase a new one. If Amazon flies you everything on drones, how much more difficult would it be to have someone make a house call? (Well, maybe a bit, but still.)
Recognizing the importance of repair can mean learning skills to do more yourself — like very basics of electricity (soldering is a very cheap and easy thing, for example), plumbing, carpentry, sewing, and other general household repairs. It can also mean being a little less hasty to deem something “broken” and dispose of it — instead paying a call to your local handyperson/fixer or busting out the WD-40 or sewing needle.
These are smaller, cheaper, and less complicated objects than large appliances or vehicles, to be sure, but repairing this stuff still adds up!
It is easier than ever to learn how to do these things too, from community colleges, to clubs, to the vastness of the internet — you can learn how to do just about anything on YouTube and have nearly any question answered on Reddit.
