Repairing in a Modern World

By Andrew Malaby

“No, I WANT it to stand out!” I said to the repair woman at R.A.'s Ultimate Sewing Shop. We were exploring her box of zippers to put on my backpack. She was concerned that she couldn’t find a matching color. This was back in the summer of 2020, but I should have done this way sooner. This bag was about $100 at the time of purchase and I used it

extensively for about 5 years. I commuted by bike with it, crammed it with way too many things, shoved it under airplane seats, and threw it in the back seat. It took everything I threw at it. When the zipper started failing in 2018, I continued to use it for a year. I couldn’t bring myself to throw away the bag. We had a long history and our relationship deserved better.

Relationships take work, and this bag had done all the heavy lifting.

Repairing doesn’t come naturally to me. Growing up, my family composted, thrifted, and occasionally DIYed stuff, but my generation is the one that embraced recycling as a failsafe that made us feel good about buying new and better things. For about 20 years there, I pretty much forgot that reusing was a thing. It was only relatively recently that I learned to reprioritize the 5 Rs - currently accepted as Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.

It’s worth a pit stop here to review why repairing is beneficial - even when other disposal options are available. First off, it’s better for the environment because the carbon footprint of manufacturing and transporting new items is vastly larger than our consumption of them. Global warming equivalent calculators offer a glimpse at this. A reusable bag needs to be used well over 100 times in order to be eco-friendly over its disposable counterparts. Even complicated manufacturing of electronics and office chairs is routinely assessed for carbon footprint as governments continue to incentivize lower carbon footprints from the manufacturing sector. Secondly, it saves you money and fights built-in obsolescence by shifting our mindset toward one of appreciation for goods. Whether or not Apple actually plans obsolescence into its phones, repairing or refurbishing your old phone will save you money and make you appreciate the technology more. Finally, options for affordable, responsible disposal and replacement in our rural community are limited. Chester cannot support machine-sorted recycling, industrial composting, and other facilities of larger cities, leaving expensive options that include individual collection and mailing to specialized disposal companies. And shopping options to replace these items are literally few and far between. So while I could recycle or dispose of this bag responsibly, repairing is a better decision for my wallet, my sanity, and the planet.

And this is where I make a confession - I am NOT a handy person. I have done projects before, but I always feel like the time it takes me is about three times the normal person. I mounted an above-oven microwave in my last house. It included hours of YouTube videos, an entire weekend, and more four letter words than I had uttered in many years. Assembling a greenhouse kit took months and some “creative license” involving some surgery on the paneling with a box cutter.

I knew that me repairing a zipper would likely lead to disappointment in my own shoddy workmanship, and my backpack deserved better than a box cutter. So I owned up to my limitations and took it to the repair shop. “Looks like a great bag, and then they go put a cheap zipper on it.” the repairwoman said. I asked, “How much will it be?”, fully expecting the charge to be more than the bag was worth. It cost $40 - well worth it for a bag that I couldn’t use in its current state and that wasn’t made anymore. (no really, I checked)

The shift to a repair mindset has simplified the environmental calculation and led to reuse and repair as a first step before recycling. When I wore a hole in my canvas bag this year, I just patched it with part of an old T-shirt. It’s true, I could have composted the bag and bought another. Canvas is primarily made of linen, unique in that it is renewable and biodegradable, but not recyclable. However, most canvas bags have small amounts of plastics that do not biodegrade, and there is a carbon footprint to making and shipping any replacement. Repairing and using for another 5-10 years wins hands down. I have similar plans to repair my worn snow boots by taking them to a repair cafe where I can learn how to make the repair last.

For some, this story seems like a guilt-trip. When every purchase is wracked with guilt about the product’s lifecycle, the anxiety can be crippling. In order to combat this, I’ve tried to focus on cost-benefit ratios for the planet and my wallet, and use the first two Rs - refuse and reduce - you know, BEFORE it gets to the repair stage. I’ve also given myself grace when I’m not perfect. With a reuse mindset, you’d be surprised how many things you stop buying. It’s empowering to literally take things into your own hands.