Mend it once before you replace it
One repair attempt, on one thing, before it goes. Most failures are a seam, a fuse or a seal.
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Why it lands
Almost nothing is thrown away because it is unfixable — it is thrown away because fixing it was never considered, and considering it takes a decision nobody has been taught to make. A single repair is worth more than a year of careful recycling, because the environmental cost of a thing is almost entirely in its manufacture. Mending also changes how the next purchase is made, which is the part that compounds.
How
Pick the next thing that breaks and give it twenty minutes before it goes in the bin. Search the model number and the symptom. If it is fabric, it is a seam; if it is electrical and dead, it is often a fuse or a cable. If you cannot do it, find out whether a repair cafe operates near you — most towns have one and almost nobody knows.
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