Human beings have arguably been a throw away culture, or at the very least mindset and culture, since 1892 when bottle caps were first introduced. The trend has become more and more prevalent to the point where we now replace an entire transmission rather than a gasket. This shift reflects the rise of planned obsolescence, in which products are intentionally designed to have limited lifespans and/or be extremely difficult or expensive to repair. As manufacturing has become cheaper and mass production more efficient, the economic incentive to discard and replace overtook the values of maintenance and longevity. In all industries (eg. electronics, automotive, fashion etc.), repair has been sidelined in favor of convenience and profit. The result is a global surge in waste, with millions of tons of usable materials ending up in landfills each year. Fortunately, there is an expanding movement advocating for the right to repair one’s own possessions which is now acting as a counterbalance to this disposable mindset