My paper shredder stopped working recently. I could buy a new one, but I hated the idea of throwing the old one away. It’s better for the planet if we fix our appliances but it’s not easy to find a repair person these days. Fortunately, I found out about Zero Waste San Diego’s Fix-It Clinic. It’s a free service where you learn how to fix things yourself with the help of volunteer coaches.
This clinic was at the Lemon Grove Library on a Saturday morning. I was instructed to bring my shredder, a manual, and any tools I
Kam and Mike investigate the inner workings of the shredder.
would need. When my husband and I arrived we checked in to get assigned to a volunteer coach. But first, they weighed my shredder to document how many pounds of waste would potentially be diverted from the landfill.
We were assigned to Kam, the youngest volunteer coach that day. Coaches are easy to identify in their brown shop aprons. This was Kam’s first day as well. He had volunteered to fix bikes but agreed to take on our shredder.
Kam is an incoming senior at La Jolla Country Day with a passion for the environment. He wants to pursue a career in sustainability and protect the world through public policy. Kam even started a blog on environmental issues called The Curious Goldfish!
Kam, a volunteer Fix-It Coach and incoming senior at La Jolla Country Day works on the shredder using his Fix-It tool bag.
We had a great time with Kam learning how to open the shredder – probably the hardest part because the fasteners were difficult to access and required a special tool. Kam didn’t have what we needed in his toolkit so Mike, an experienced coach, came to our rescue with a cordless ratchet.
We opened the shredder and all four of us tried to figure out what was causing the problem. We saw one part that looked broken but we didn’t have a spare so we tried to adjust it so it would still operate. The final step was to reassemble the shredder. (Tip – take a picture so you know exactly where everything is supposed to go!) We panicked when we had an extra screw at the end – but fortunately, we found its home and breathed a sigh of relief.
Fix-It Coach Kam with a repaired shredder he helped save from the landfill.
The moment of truth. My husband and Kam carried the shredder over to an electric outlet, plugged it in, and fed in a sheet of paper. Before, the sheet would go about halfway through and then stop. This time it went in all the way and my 16-pound shredder was saved from the landfill! We were handed a bell to ring to let everyone know another appliance was saved from the landfill.
The next Fix-It Clinic will be October 1, 2022 at the Carlsbad City Library. Give it a try!
This article is by Laura Schumacher
