Suppose a seam splits on your athletic shoe. Or a toy breaks. Don’t throw it away. Many damaged items can be fixed. That can not only save you money but also help the environment. Now imagine a whole community doing this — with almost everything.
That’s the goal of some 100 ambitious communities around the globe. Describing themselves as “circular” cities, they’re looking to take materials that would have been trash or pollution and circle them into new products or use them in other processes.
It’s a new play on that old adage: Waste not, want not.
“Just because something is broken doesn’t mean that [its] use stops, that you have to throw it away,” says Wendy Riggins. She’s the assistant director for Austin Resource Recovery in Texas. It’s a part of the Austin city government. Its yearly toy-repair clinic, fix-it workshops and online videos help people keep valued possessions out of the trash heap.
English (US)