With products always available right at our fingertips, ordering a brand-new replacement for old or broken items seems to be the method of choice.
However, more consumers are realizing that repairing what you own can be the easiest and most affordable way to help reduce waste.
A post on Reddit's Frugal subreddit shows how one user repaired an 8-year-old spray bottle instead of tossing it.
The original poster's caption says, "My ~8yo cleaning spray bottle was starting to spray out of a tiny hole on the side. Smallest glob of JB Weld fixed it easy, now it sprays full power again."
The Redditor continues explaining how the fix was simple. "Probably took me 3 minutes to grab the epoxy tubes I keep around, mix them on a piece of torn off 3x5 note card, and a bent paper clip that I reuse lol."
Repairing and refurbishing an item isn't just an opportunity to learn handy skills. It can also help extend the lifespan of products — which means less waste.
"Before recycling comes into play, there are several steps in a product's life cycle that should be addressed," says circular economy researcher Sarah King.
She says those steps include "redesigning products and processes so that they use less virgin material" and reusing items before discarding them. Across nearly all industries, more companies are shifting to give customers the skills and tools to repair their products.
One user responds to the Reddit thread praising the same product that helped the original poster make their repair:
"Love JB weld. I used it to fix a hole in the intake manifold of my truck. [The] mechanic said it wouldn't work. 18 months later and holding up. Saved about $500."
Another user says, "JB Weld, Gorilla Tape, and zip ties are an investment that pays off fast." The original poster responded and mentioned how these tools usually provide substantial fixes "I carry basically all those on my cross-country motorcycle trips."
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