The Return of Repairing: Embracing Sustainability in the Circular Economy

people standing around working desk, repairing metal item

Just a few decades ago, it was common to repair defective devices, furniture, or clothing instead of replacing them. Today, this sustainable practice is experiencing a renaissance due to environmental reasons.

 

Repairing is Trendy

In our throwaway society, it has become a habit to simply replace broken items with new ones. However, the resource consumption is immense: the production of a new smartphone alone causes a significant amount of emissions. Repairing existing devices is often the better alternative.

Therefore, more and more initiatives are emerging to fuel a new repair trend:

– Numerous repair cafés for communal repairing
– “Restart Parties” as events to refurbish old electronic devices
– Repair services as a new business model
– Right-to-Repair movement for greater reparability

 

Repair Tips for Home

We can also save resources in our daily lives by repairing things ourselves:

– Request manuals and spare parts from manufacturers
– Learn repairs together in open workshops
– Have repairs done by professionals instead of replacing items
– Use the newly introduced repair bonus

 

Key Points

– Repairing used to be commonplace but has been forgotten
– Repair is now experiencing a renaissance for sustainability reasons
– There are countless local initiatives and new services
– Repairing instead of replacing saves resources and money

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