Handled with Care: Repair and share as waste management strategies and community sustaining practices

Abstract

Waste is progressively prevailing but persistently ignored in conditions of abundance and material comfort; unquestionably, that which the modern discourse of living standards especially in developed societies has generated, is an inability to confront the consequences of an ever-accelerating product redundancy economy. The necessity for the recognition of this condition in the context of a Western city (Brisbane, Australia) led to the design and realisation of a research project titled 'Handled With Care: Developing The Paradigm Of A Culture Of Repair And Share'. The aim of this project was to create possibilities of engaging Brisbane's residents in dematerialising practices such as repairing and sharing via giving them access to an up-to-date inventory of the existing businesses of repair and organisations of share in central Brisbane. By identifying not only longevity and emotional durability but also dematerialisation as waste management strategies its goal was to encourage people to re-evaluate the use of their material belongings and re-direct their consumption routines. For the realisation of the project the descriptive case study method was adopted and for its purposes, an online map of the 'repair and share' geography of central Brisbane was created, which was embedded on a digital platform (website) and an Application (App). In conclusion, the findings of this project revealed an existing community of repairers and sharers who were willing to be included in the project and provide valuable material, and exposed current repairing and sharing trends as well as the neighbourhoods where these phenomena have an active presence.