How (and why) to fix a toaster

A few months ago, a friend's coffee grinder broke. Coffee grinders, like toasters and other small appliances, are often cheapter to throw away and replace than to repair. But think about the waste.

If you just don't like your small appliance anymore, or are replacing it because you need a new function (like a timer or auto shutoff on a coffee maker), then there are plenty of places to take working appliances, clothes, furniture and all sorts of household goods for re-use. And, as we all know, it's better to re-use most items than to recycle them. The city I live in, Toronto, has a web page full of links for such wonderful places.

Sadly, a lot of working appliances and electronics do end up going to landfills. These range from ugly old toasters to last year's cell phones. In 2000/2001, Toronto studied the composition of its garbage. According to a six-week sampling of 80 single-family households, goods such as appliances, small appliances, electronics and furniture accounted for 12 percent of waste. That's 116 kg per household per year. In those six weeks, the 80 households dumped 67 kilograms of small appliances and electronics. That's equivalent to almost a toaster for every second household in just six weeks!

This is one area where, according to the study, apartment-dwellers fare better. The study also looked at 826 households in multi-unit dwellings. The average apartment only tossed the equivalent of 4 kg of small appliances or electronics per year.

But still, even if every Torontonian threw away only as much as the residents of a typical apartment, we'd be looking at about 4 million kilograms of small appliances and electronics in the garbage every year. That's about 2 million two-slice toasters.

So, what can we do? In some cases, we can fix 'em.

My friend pointed me to a nifty site, fixitclub.com. It has instructions on maintenance and repair of all sorts of things, particularly small appliances like toasters and coffee grinders.

Me, I like books, so I'm always on the lookout for a good book that'll guide me through a problem. Sadly, there are few books on the market today that instruct people on small appliance repair.

One that does cover some small appliances in a simple, straightforward way is How to Fix Everything for Dummies. It covers the basics and is easy to follow. It does not, contrary to its title, include instructions on how to fix everything. It does have instructions on fixing lots of things, from simple household repairs to small appliances. The small appliances section is brief, but does cover things like the upright vacuum, iron and food processor. It does not actually tell you how to repair these things, generally. Instead, it covers what I would call maintenance. That is, how to take apart and clean them, and some simple adjustments that'll give 'em a longer life. It also covers large appliances, heating and air conditioning systems, and lots of other household concerns. And at about $25 (Canadian), it's not a major investment.

Small appliances are a concern because they're bulky items to send to landfill. But the real danger is electronics. These contain many components that will leach dangerous heavy metals. Like small appliances, they're often less expensive to replace than to repair. Or at least so it seems.

If we factored in the cost of safely disposing of, or recycling, the components of most electronics, repairing them would be a much more cost-effective proposition. Right now, that cost is borne by the general public. My taxes pay for your waste. Not fair.

More often, though, nobody is paying for proper disposal. Cell phones, printers, old computers, they all too often are just tossed into a landfill. Future generations will end up paying through the nose for expensive cleanup projects as water and soil become contaminated. I'm a father. I don't want that legacy for my son.

What I would like to see is something called "Extended Producer Responsibility." That's a system in which manufacturers are responsible for their products, even after they've been sold to a consumer. When their life is done, the products go back to the manufacturers (or the manufacturers pay for proper recycling or disposal). Apply the idea to packaging, and you can bet we'll see a lot less of those hard-to-open, non-recyclable plastic packages on toys and video games. (If you're not sure what's recyclable and live in Toronto, see my post here.)

In the meantime, lots of electronic devices can be repaired. Some can be fixed by an average lay person. Most will require some legitimate training in electronics. I thought I'd hit paydirt when I found Troubleshooting and Repairing Consumer Electronics Without a Schematic. It's writtin in plain language! I understand most of it! Unfortunately, to actually make use of it would require a couple years of education that I'm sadly lacking. So, if anyone in my neighbourhood wants to field test my copy, you're welcome to it. Just promise that you'll repair at least one radio, VCR, television or DVD player and keep it out of a landfill.

Green paper supply not meeting demand

According to a report produced by conservation group Markets Initiative, Canadian magazines are clamouring for eco-friendly paper, but the mills simply aren't meeting that demand.

To supply what magazine, book and newspaper publishers want, mills would have to produce an additional 550,000 metric tons of "eco-paper." The group estimates that supplying that paper would result in contracts worth about $560 million.

"There's no reason Canada's troubled pulp and paper industry can't take inspiration from the auto sector and start reinventing by producing a greener product," Nicole Rycroft, the group's executive director, said in the report's announcement. (And thanks to D.B. Scott's Canadian Magazines blog for bringing it to my attention.)

One reason I find this report interesting is that I've been trying to source unbleached, recycled paper for my office (I work in publishing). This is something I was able to buy back in the early 1990s, but today it's almost impossible to find. It certainly is not available from big office supply companies like Staples (whenever I ask, they try to sell me acid-free paper). I haven't seen unbleached toilet paper on a store's shelves since about 1994. To the best of my knowledge, the mills have all moved away from producing truly environmentally friendly paper products. And those are products that can command premium prices at retail.

This all comes at a time when the pulp mill owners are moaning about the state of their industry. Apparently I am not alone in my willingness to pay a premium for a product that is less harmful to the environment, and not alone in my frustration that no one seems willing to acknowledge that there is a demand for better paper products. At least, no one in the Canadian paper industry.

Perhaps this is all a bit more poignant because I'm reading Corporate Wasteland: the landscape and memory of deindustrialization, in which Concordia University history professor Steven High walks us through the social impacts of plant closures, while photographer David W. Lewis provides stark visual cues about the landscapes in question.

The book includes a compelling discussion of Northern Ontario pulp and paper mill closures, situations in which multinationals closed the doors of a mill and walked away from a profitable operation. Those were mills that might have helped meet the growing demand for eco-friendly paper that exists today. Mills that could have helped Canada to be at the forefront of an emerging industry.

Instead, they closed the mills and, in some cases, tore them down rather than allow anyone else to keep them running. For a multinational paper company, it's better to have a closed mill than one reopened by a potential competitor. These closrues were tragic for many mill workers, sometimes devastating to the mill towns. And all the more sad for the opportunities lost because the mill owners couldn't see the new market that was on the horizon.

Markets Initiative suggests that, to be competitive, the Canadian industry needs to increase recycled paper capacity, invest in commercial-scale residue pulping, improve collaboration between producers, consumers and government on policy initiatives, and start planning based on a product's full cycle.

There are a lot of good ideas there. We'll see what the government does with the $170 million earmakred for technology, research and innovation in its budget. Will it rehabilitate the Canadian pulp and paper industry, or will the government just prop up the industry temporarily, effectively funneling money south of the border?

We'll see if the industry moves forward, if new life is breathed into mill towns, and if decent jobs are created for working people in the forest sector, jobs they can once again be proud of.

A nod to Salmon Poetry

I'm very happy. Today's mail brought my copy of Todd Swift's new poetry collection, Seaway. I've been looking forward to it for months, and can't wait to curl up with it this evening.

But what made me really happy was the discovery that its publisher, Salmon Poetry, sent it in re-used packaging. The padded envelope started its journey in Paris, France, likely carrying the manuscript of a hopeful poet. That brought the envelope to Ireland, and now the publisher sent it on to me, in Canada.

Publishers and booksellers get tons of envelopes and packages every year, and I'm always happy to see it being re-used. It's one of the reasons why I like Canadian booksellers McNally Robinson for online orders. I'm pleased that Salmon Poetry can be added to my list.

And best of all, the package contained poetry!