Rather than throwing away damaged appliances or torn clothing and buying new items to replace them, the most sustainable thing you can do is fix what’s broken and continue using it.
That’s the goal of Oregon State University’s biannual Repair Fair, where local volunteers help and teach others how to make basic repairs. All are welcome to attend from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the OSUsed Store Warehouse, 644 SW 13th St. in Corvallis.
“When we talk about ‘Reduce – Reuse – Recycle,’ it’s really a hierarchy: First you reduce, then you reuse, then you recycle. So trying to focus on reducing altogether means thinking about the instances where you can just not buy something,” said Kaylee Smith, administrative program specialist with OSU Materials Management.
Any effort to minimize the amount of trash that ends up in a landfill has an impact, said OSU senior Bailey Brockamp, a student worker with Materials Management and the Repair Fair lead in the Waste Watchers Sustainability Club, a student group that carries out short- and long-term waste reduction projects around campus.
“In terms of climate change, there’s a lot of greenhouse gases coming from the landfill; the more we add things and compact them, the more gases are getting released,” Brockamp said. “That’s something people are concerned about, and that’s a really valuable reason to learn how to repair things, as well.”
OSU’s Repair Fair started in 2012, the same year as Waste Watchers. Many municipalities nationwide hold similar events, sometimes called “Fix-It Fairs,” to give community members an alternative to throwing items in the trash.
The fair relies on community volunteers who have a skill and passion for fixing things, whether their expertise lies in electronics, furniture, bikes, appliances or clothing. Each fair sees a lot of repeat volunteers, along with some new faces who wish to share their skillset, Smith said.
An image from the April 2015 Repair Fair.
OSU holds two Repair Fairs each year; the next will be in the spring. Check out the Campus Recycling website to learn more and find opportunities to get involved, or email Smith at [email protected] or the Waste Watchers team at [email protected].
“The goal is to keep as much out of the landfills as we can, and the secondary goal is to just get people to learn these new skills and feel inspired and confident in their abilities,” Brockamp said.
The event also encourages engagement and fosters collaboration between OSU organizations, hosting tables from groups like the Sustainability in Business Club, Community Engagement and Leadership, and the community nonprofit Weathered Hands.
A lot of people in younger generations today don’t have the time or resources to learn how to repair their items, and a lot of consumer goods are made cheaply and break easily, Smith said.
“It’s so convenient to buy things new because it’s so cheap. This whole hyper-capitalistic society we live in profits off us not feeling confident in our abilities to do something ourselves,” she said. “But sustainability is infectious. If you observe your peers doing something amazing, you feel like you can do it too. You just have to get people there.
“The biggest disservice we can do to our community is assuming someone else will do it. You can be the person who learns the skill to teach other people.”
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