ORLANDO, Fla. — Dozens of volunteers gathered at the Orange County Environmental Protection Division’s “Fix It! Don’t Pitch It” event recently to fix broken household items and keep them from being thrown away.
Aimee Krivan, the leader of the event and the Pollution Prevention Program Coordinator for EPD, said “Fix It! Don’t Pitch It” allows residents to have their broken items fixed for free, in an effort to keep them out of the landfill.
“We started the event back in 2018, with the idea of encouraging residents to have their items fixed instead of sending them to the landfill,” Krivan said.
The event’s purpose is to prolong the life of items and reduce landfill waste. According to the most recent Environmental Protection Agency data, the U.S. produced 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste, or MSW, in 2018.
According to the EPA, half of that waste ended up in landfills. Per Florida Department of Environmental Protection data, Orange County managed 3.6 million tons of MSW in 2022. Nearly 75% of that trash, or 2.7 million tons, ended up in a landfill.
At the event, dozens of volunteers gathered to fix everything from electronics and household appliances to clothing and jewelry. It was all part of an effort to reduce pollution, which is a problem that volunteer Ariel Takuma knows all too well.
“We see so much trash out on our cleanups that could easily be reused, had it been repaired or taken better care of,” Takuma said.
Takuma is a volunteer with Central Florida RECON, which regularly hosts cleanups where volunteers remove hundreds of pounds of trash from local waterways. With the “Fix It! Don’t Pitch It” event, Takuma said he can be a step ahead.
“It’s nice to be able to catch it one step before it ends up in our waterways,” he said.
At the event, Takuma and other volunteers ran the outdoor bike repair station. The day’s first bike was brought in by Orange County residents Molly and Villo Galvan. They said they hoped volunteers would be able to give their bike more years of use.
“This is a bike that we’ve had for a really long time and we love it and want to keep using it,” Molly Galvan said. “So, we’re hoping that some of the volunteers can do a little something to help keep it riding nice.”
Takuma and volunteers were able to work on the bike’s brakes, adjust the seat and make it ride smoother. Takuma said the repairs should give the bike at least another five years of riding. For the Galvans, the event gave an old item a new life.
“This is a really good idea to come and fix things rather than throw it out,” Molly Galvan said. “I’d much rather keep things out of the landfill and keep things running when possible. I’d rather not throw things away.”
For Takuma, fixing the bike means one less item in the landfill, while getting one step closer to stopping pollution.
“Being able to keep a bike out of the landfill and out of our waterways is a great feeling,” he said.
When an item is broken, the first inclination for many can be to throw it away, but Takuma hopes the day’s event encourages people to try fixing things first and to prevent pollution.
Krivan said the event saved Orange County residents $5,762 in repairs and kept 118 pounds of trash out of the landfill. Krivan also helps to train other counties and organizations in hosting "Fix It! Don't Pitch It" events themselves.
Anyone interested in hosting an event can reach out to Krivan at FixIt@ocfl.net.
Reagan Ryan is a 2023 — 2024 Report for America Corps Member, covering the environment and climate across Central Florida for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.