I used to think that when something stopped working, replacing it was simply the easiest option.

A broken lamp changed that.

Instead of immediately buying another one, I opened it carefully, looked at how the parts were connected and searched for the simplest possible problem. The fault turned out to be small. A basic repair gave the lamp another life.

That repair made me curious.

I started looking differently at other things around me: a loose chair, a damaged cable, an old bag, a fan that needed cleaning, clothes that could be stitched and containers that could be reused.

Not everything could be repaired, and not everything should be. Safety matters. But I realised that many objects are discarded long before they are truly useless.

Repair also changed the way I bought things. I began asking different questions: Can this be maintained? Are replacement parts available? Is it designed to last? Could someone else use it when I no longer need it?

Eventually, repairing became social too. Friends began bringing small items over. We exchanged tools, shared tutorials and learned from one another. Sometimes the best solution was repair. Sometimes it was donating, reselling, repurposing or recycling responsibly.

The biggest lesson was simple: waste often begins before the bin.

It begins with how we design, buy, use and value the things around us.

Repairing one object will not solve the world’s waste problem. But millions of people extending the useful life of millions of objects can change how resources are used.

My first repair was just a lamp. What it really fixed was the way I looked at things.