“Repair” is the fourth ‘R’ of environmentalism and sustainability after reduce, reuse, and recycle.  We’ve collected four ideas that came out of the fixer movement, which is something we will discuss in more detail in our next post.

iFixIt: Repair it yourself!

This global community, created in 2003, helps bring your devices back to life by providing manuals, tutorials, and other ssshared materials.  It’s the first big network in the device recovery movement.

 

Repair Café: The café for handymen

Repair Café is a global community that began in Holland. It promotes meeting places for repairers, fixers, and handymen to put an end to planned obsolescence.  There are various options in every country, and you can get information and guides to help you set up your own Repair Café.

 

Against obsolescence: alargascencia

Speaking of planned obsolescence (i.e. when devices have a pre-determined expiry date), in 2015 the Alargascencia platform emerged. The name is derived from the Spanish word alargar meaning “to extend or prolong”. Promoted by the environmentalist association Amigos de la Tierra (“Friends of Earth”), the website is an up-to-date directory of places where you can repair, exchange, rent, or lend your things.

 

Repairing online: fixer youtubers

You’ve probably searched for video tutorials to learn how to do something.  There are also several resources on sites like YouTube to help you repair appliances or even to help you start from scratch in the fixer world with basic electronics concepts.