Waste It Not: 3 Reasons to Repair
Posted on August 5, 2017
Increased consumption of manufactured goods is raising the demand of natural resources and generating more waste. Yet, there is a growing interest in “do it yourself” projects that can help each of us save money, reduce waste, and connect with our communities. Green Calgary was inspired by Repair Cafés, DIY groups, and conscious consumerism to help Calgarians take action to live more sustainably with the Waste It Not workshops.
So why repair items?
1. Environmental. After Reducing, Reusing is the next step in the Three R's, and repair is part of that. The creation of every product or good is going to take some resources, and rather than allowing that object's life cycle to end now and its parts go to the landfill or recycling, by repairing the item, you take it out of that waste stream and give it more time to be useful. In addition, this means you don't replace the object with a new product that also took resources to make.
2. Economic. Consumer culture is a culture of waste, not only of objects but also of money. Often, repairing an item is much more expensive than replacing it, encouraging you to buy new products. If you learn to repair items for yourself, however, the repair of an item could be much less expensive. You can also repair some items multiple times.
3. Social. Repairing items doesn't only benefit you and the earth, it benefits others as well. You learn employable skills, connect with others with similar interests, and grow a community of Waste It Not experts, who can teach others their skills, too!
The first Green Calgary’s Waste It Not workshop will be focused in home décor. For this initiative we are partnering with HandyGirlsYYC, a group of immigrants, New Canadians, and refugees who work with their hands to create furniture and home décor items from recycled materials.
So if you have a small home décor item that needs to be repaired, join us for our first Green Calgary’s Waste It Not Workshop on September 30th. We will provide materials, tools and expert support so that you can give your item a second life, learn employable skills, meet like-minded folks while saving materials from the landfill and conserving natural resources.
Registration is free. Please consider making a donation to keep this initiative going.
