- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
I embrace them all and more. My list has 6R's at least. Yes, REDUCE (1) and REUSE (2) both early and often. But not so fast with RECYCLE => (5). It's important but so are other R's, some of which come before recycling. What else?
(3) REPAIR. Lots of things get thrown away because they're broken. Modern man is all about planned obsolescence. Products seem less durable. Maybe the good old days are myth and lore. Legends in our own minds. Not always IMHO. Thrift store shopping has proven a lot to me. Including reminders that some vintage products were better quality. Lasted longer. More repairable WHEN things broke.
"Everything put together sooner or later falls apart"
--Paul Simon
Some products were never meant to be opened for service after mass production. Companies make more money when you replace with new instead of fixing busted stuff. Henry Ford is rumored to have sent engineers to junkyards back in the day to study carcasses and wrecks. Then report back what parts never broke or wore out. Those parts were over built in his view. Opportunities to save (them) money (by reducing quality). What about us? "Just buy a new one. We're making 'em cheaper." Hm.
I'd rather fix. If possible. Turns out, it's so more often than ya might think. For me the most recent game changer is 3D Printing. Full disclosure! Design Space (solid modeling) can be a time suck obsession. Not always. Not necessarily contagious either. Even so, making stuff and solving problems are healthy brain activities. Especially good for aging brains. And it's never too late to learn. If Mark can 3D print at 80, I can learn at 60. Best decision! Now I can't imagine life without it. Poke fun of me at your own risk.
Repairs are sometimes about missing parts. Like an adjustable foot for a wobbly shelving unit. My new mantra is "I can print that." Designs need to be makable or they're just academic at best. Replacement parts don't have to be identical to work. Close enough works.
Repair can go beyond missing parts. Some broken parts can be fixed. Like a recent thrift-score floor lamp. Cheap but damaged, yet fixable. One of its bulb sockets was made of Bakelite which is brittle. Its threaded collar had already broken off. During disassembly it came apart in pieces. Except for a jagged hole left in its housing the rest of the socket was good. So a patch piece was 3D printed. Its housing was scuffed for glue adhesion.
If you don't know it JB Weld is a 2-part epoxy and one of my go-to solutions. Also called liquid steel because it hardens so strong. Its ooziness could squish through the jagged hole to help lock both pieces together. The stringy under side (unsupported overhang) of my printed thread collar also worked to advantage. When it comes to adhesion, the rougher the better.
Some broken parts can be cloned for replacement. Like the shade harp for the other light fixture on that same lamp. The broken piece was made of pot metal which is also brittle. Hindsight is 20/20. Both failures were textbook design flaw examples of stress concentrators. Basically, sharp edge = weak point. That's why both broke at the base of their threaded collars.
Failure analysis tells a story and teaches lessons. Better to fillet radius such sharp transition points in part geometry. For a plastic replacement its design needed tweaking to accommodate different material properties. Further tweaking because printability is always a must.
Fixing the base of that lamp had nothing to do with 3D printing. Inside its base was a weight. A plaster cast with a skimpy plastic covering. Some plastics seem to age worse than others. Its covering only protected the crumbly plaster until the thin plastic started failing. Then neither aged gracefully.
"I fall to pieces"
--Patsey Cline
I suppose the thin plastic shell was injection molded. Plaster poured in, hole plugged, hardened. Who knows how long ago. Its outer cover cracked and flaked off in pieces. Once exposed the plaster then started eroding. That's how I read its story.
After removing its shell in pieces, then its exposed core was stabilized with a spray coating of flexible rubber.
Lamp done. One less piece of junk in landfill. Another useful addition to my project laboratorium.
(4) REPURPOSE. Unlike reuse and repair which honor original intent, some things get second lives for different uses. Thrifting promotes that paradigm big time. Sometimes I find donor parts to modify other things. Like office chair casters to refit under corner posts of leftover shelving parts. Now it's a rolling cart for tool chest. With an open access bottom level to help organize stuff.
Other things with good bones get reconfigured creatively. Like a folding hand cart for golfers to drag their bag of clubs around the links. I don't golf but with a little strategic beefing up it's now sturdy enough to handle a heavy gas cylinder for MIG welding.
The futon above was another thrift score. The cushions were custom made a few years ago for my truck camper project (now bumped by others). Climate control in a home is much better than hot box storage. May as well use them until the truck camper gets ready for 'em one of these years.
After shopping in vain for a futon frame I liked for those cushions, a nice enough one magically appeared this summer. Just needed cut/weld down from full to twin.
Still needs painting of course. Saving that project for my favorite rattle canner. Meanwhile, the living room needed seating. This is exactly how the cushions were meant to be used. Albeit in a camper. Another guest bed in the living room was just a bonus.
(6) RUBBISH. At the end of their life cycles, some things can't be recycled of course. We all know that. I'm just saying it out loud. Partly because in recent years as a consumer I've become more mindful of packaging. Take grocery shopping. Food packaging can be crucial for health and safety. Single use plastics are unavoidable, sometimes. Still...
When there is a choice between products, my wallet votes for the more eco-packaged candidate as a tie breaker at least. Even then, some packaging is durable enough to exceed single use. Even if just a few times instead of many (perfect is the enemy of good enough). Ultimately it goes to landfill but better after a second use, or seventeen. Whether clear, translucent or opaque, of the plastic food containers that enter my home, most never see the curb bin.
Instead, they get washed, stashed in the pantry, and eventually used for something. Freezer containers for meal portions redistributed from jumbo packs. Ziplock bags aren't as easy to wash and reuse like lidded containers. And they can contain WAY more than just food. Bins for loose parts. Supplies for future projects and works in progress. Snappy lids help keep track of little bits like screws and nuts that otherwise wander off. Ya think they get bored?
"see the world beyond your front door"
--Barenaked Ladies
My Box Of Shame is just for 3D print fails. Grandpa never made a mistake but had lotsa learning experiences. I study failed prints to understand what went sideways and raise my game. Misprints are gonna happen. I wanna learn root causes to catch problems early, make corrections when least expensive to do so, and avoid as many wrong turns as possible. That causes success.
Time to wrap this post. Let's sum up my expanded list. Maybe call it the Eco 6R's.
- Reduce
- Reuse
- REPAIR
- REPURPOSE
- Recycle
- RUBBISH
There could be even more, for all I know. Ar matey, KB don't fathom ALL.
