REPAIR

I have touched on Refuse, Reduce, Reuse in previous blogs - it is now time to consider Repair.

To spend time on "small" repairs is seen as a luxury to many people. Sewing an ear back on a teddy bear, or mending a torn jacket, or glueing a heel on a shoe, or putting a decorative patch over a stain on a sofa "takes far too much time". Somehow the time spent on travelling to shops, finding and buying replacements, as well as the time spent earning the money to buy them with, is forgotten.

Our current economic climate may encourage us to spend more time lengthening the life of our possessions, but how many people have the skills needed? This is where the skills and experience of older generations - with more time to spare? - should be passed on to younger people. For those who don't know anyone to ask for a lesson, there are evening classes and also "home learning" opportunities.

Larger repairs are often not carried out for different reasons. We may feel virtuous when we avoid a repair bill for an item (fridge/cooker/dishwasher/whatever) and buy a new, more efficient one - but how long will it take for the increased efficiency to overtake the costs in production for the new model, and the disposal costs for the old one? And "costs" covers not just the money spent on the new item and the reduction in electricity bills, but all the resources used in production and disposal. How would this compare with repair costs?

Repairs and maintenance in the home is where my husband and I score very badly - we both give a higher priority to our voluntary and community activities than to making our house look smarter. However last year our peeling outdoor paint and rotten windows reached the point where they had to be dealt with. We couldn't find anyone willing to repair the windows and were advised that they should be replaced. We received a few frightening quotations for the work as they included two bay windows.

One day, when inviting people to a meeting at our house and describing it as "the house with yellow, peeling paintwork" I was told that Jericho would give us a quote for repairs and decorations. Jericho is a social enterprise, based in Balsall Heath, that offers a range of services, including training, work experience and employment for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market. They had already provided us with a solar panel and a new, efficient boiler (replacing one that was over 30 years old) and we were delighted with the care and skill they used in this further work.

So Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair as much as you can, before you decide to Recycle.