October 20 is International Repair Day and National Reuse Day

October 20th is National Reuse Day!!! Happy reusing! As described in an article from yesterday's Waste 360, "The day helps raise awareness about how much material Americans waste and how buying, using or donating reusable, reclaimed and remanufactured products can make a difference." Their article includes a slide show with ideas for ways you can incorporate reuse into your everyday life. (Though I would argue that composting is NOT reuse of food but rather recycling it; food donation, repurposing leftovers, using food scraps that weren't used in one recipe for a different one--THAT is reuse. Composting is important, it's just not the first thing one should do with food that is unwanted or unneeded, unless that food has already spoiled.)

Sadly there's really not much information available online regarding National Reuse Day, which the Reuse Alliance worked have recognized--not even on the Reuse Alliance web site. Austin, TX seems to take it seriously, extending their celebration throughout this entire weekend, as noted in this article from KXAN, Mayor Adler to announce sixth annual Reuse Day.

This day meant to encourage people to reuse is vastly overshadowed by America Recylces Day, which is coming up on November 15. That's sad not just because I clearly love reuse if I have an entire blog devoted to it; it's sad because reuse is a strategy one should always try to employ BEFORE recycling in order to make the most out of the "embodied resources" that have gone into the production of goods we use. A great deal of energy, water, and human labor goes into product manufacture and distribution, not to mention the extraction of materials from the natural environment (or their creation in a lab if the materials are synthetic). Even more resources go into the distribution of materials and completed products. While recycling is certainly important, if we can reuse an item or material before it is broken down into a state that can become feed stock in a new manufacturing process, we will be using our resources even more wisely.

But I take some comfort in the fact that October 20, 2018 is also the second annual International Day of Repair, and that is getting a bit more attention thanks to repaid advocates like the good folks at iFixit, the Restart Project in the UK (which actually launched the day in 2017; thank you Restarters!), and other members of the Repair Association.

I see repair as a form or reuse, though it can also be seen as a form of "reduce" (reduction), because through repair we keep items in their originally intended purpose for as long as possible, which is probably just a little higher on the waste management hierarchy than repurposing items prior to recycling (e.g. repairing a chipped mug and continuing to use it as a mug as opposed to repurposing a chipped mug into a bird feeder; both reduce waste through avoidance but might also be seen as reuse. That bird feeder is a reuse craft though, NOT a "recycling" or "recycled" craft no matter what anybody tells you, because you're not crushing the mug into feed stock for some new product, whatever that might be. And don't put mugs into your recycling bin; they don't get recycled and don't belong there.). 

To read more about why and how you should reduce your environmental impact through repair, see my recent post for the GLRPPR and ISTC blogs, #P2Week Day 2: Reducing Your Impact Through Repair. That post includes a list of Champaign-Urbana projects that foster repair, including my personal favorite, which I helped launch and have coordinated for the past few years, the Illini Gadget Garage. The Illini Gadget Garage provides free assistance to consumers, helping them troubleshoot and repair their electronics and small appliances. Right now, the Illini Gadget Garage is going through a transition. The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center will not continue to coordinate it in the future, but I'm exploring options for the project to be "adopted" by another entity on campus so it can continue to serve the community. Meanwhile, you can still set up an appointment to work on your gadgets by emailing illinigadgetgarage@gmail.com or by sending a message via Facebook.

To read more about International Repair Day, see the iFixit blog.  You can also check out the iFixit.org site which outlines why repair is important, how it contributes to sustainability and independence, and how repair creates jobs (According to iFixit, for every 1000 tons of electronics, landfillling creates less than 1 job, recycling creates 15 jobs, and repair creates 200 jobs.)

Reuse something! Fix something! Make an impact by making less of an impact on the world.

Illini Gadget Garage Encourages People to Repair Rather than Replace Devices

I'm fortunate to have a day job that aligns with my personal values and allows me to work on various projects to reduce waste and otherwise foster sustainability. Some of these projects even encourage reuse; as you might imagine, those tend to be my favorites.

One such favorite is the Illini Gadget Garage project. The Illini Gadget Garage is a collaborative repair service, offered at no cost to the public, focused on electronics and small appliances. The goals of the project are to extend the useful life of products, and thus conserve the natural and human resources invested in their manufacture; empower individuals to understand more about how their devices function and to have confidence in STEM-related skills; and to further empower people to see do-it-yourself repair as a viable option for addressing minor damage and performance issues.

By "collaborative repair," we mean that we're here to help you help yourself! You don't drop off electronics at the Gadget Garage for someone else to repair so you can pick them up later. You come in, tell us about your problem, and together we'll sit down, do a little fiddling and Internet research, and work on getting your device back in working order. We're combating the mainstream belief that electronics are too complex or expensive to repair by welcoming and assisting individuals of all technical experience levels (including "zero," "zilch," "nada" and "none") to "tinker" with their devices. Depending on the situation, activities may range from guidance on how to make your device run faster or install new software to hands-on repair and replacement of components. We don't sell replacement parts, but we'll help you figure out if you need parts, what those are, and where you can get them. Then you can obtain those at a local shop or online and come back in when you're ready to make the replacement so we can provide guidance and moral support! Or, if you're comfortable with doing it on your own at that point, that's cool too.

By "electronic devices," we mean all the typical items this phrase brings to mind, such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc., AND other small appliances and common household devices with electronic components. Stop and think about it for a minute–we're surrounded by items with electronics integrated into them. Even greeting cards can have sound cards inside them to play music or record messages. We believe all items with electronic components should last, and not be seen as disposable. We can't guarantee that we can show you how to fix everything you bring in, but if you can carry it in and it has an electronic component, we'll definitely give it a try! And hopefully, we'll have fun together doing it. If the required repair or maintenance seems beyond our capability, we'll help you find local repair shops that can help. (Note that we do not make endorsements or specific recommendations–we just help you help yourself. The decision about which, if any, local repair business to take your device to is ultimately yours alone.) If your device is sadly beyond repair, we'll help you find local recycling options.

You can check out our impacts at http://publish.illinois.edu/illinigadgetgarage/about/our-impact/. You can also check out a video from Urbana Public Television's "It's All About U" program, highlighting the project below. (Note the bit on the IGG starts at 8:59.)

If you're interested in volunteering or setting up an appointment to work on your device, you can contact project staff at illinigadgetgarage@gmail.com. We also have pop-ups throughout the community, so be sure to check our web site or Facebook page for announcements. On May 19th, we'll be at the Champaign Public Library, giving a presentation/demo on how to clean your gadgets (you'd be surprised how often a good cleaning fixes performance issues!), so look for presentation details soon on Facebook.

One final bit of shamelessness: if you think this sort of demystification of technology and promotion of a "repair rather replacement" culture is worthwhile, please consider making a small donation to help support continued programming--see http://publish.illinois.edu/illinigadgetgarage/donate/donation-form/ for details. Thanks in advance for your consideration!