Give your gadgets a second life at the Earth Day Repair Fair

Local repair experts and members of the Cornell and Ithaca reuse community will once again gather in the Gates Hall lobby for the fourth annual Earth Day Repair Fair, taking place Wednesday, April 22, 4-6 p.m. The event invites students, staff, faculty and local residents to bring broken or aging electronics for hands-on troubleshooting, repair and responsible recycling.

From laptops and desktops to keyboards, headphones and anything with a cord, volunteers will be on hand to diagnose issues, teach basic repair skills and help extend the life of everyday devices. Attendees can learn alongside repairers or simply drop off items for assessment.

Organized by the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science in partnership with the Cornell Computer Reuse Association (CCRA), Cornell's Campus Sustainability Office, Sustainable Computing Working Group, R5 and Ithaca ReUse, the fair aims to reduce electronic waste while empowering community members to better understand and maintain their technology.

"People often assume a device is dead when it just needs a small fix," said organizers of last year's event, which drew steady foot traffic throughout the afternoon. "The fair helps demystify technology and shows how repair can extend the life of everyday electronics."

Over the past three years, the event has helped keep significant amounts of technology in circulation. Volunteers have repaired or saved more than 30 desktop computers and laptops, restored more than 15 monitors and recovered countless cords and chargers. They have also donated roughly 100 laptops, keyboards and mice for reuse, and diverted more than 500 pounds of e-waste from landfills.

This year's fair will again feature repair stations for a wide range of small electronics. Devices that cannot be repaired on-site will be accepted for reuse or responsible recycling through CCRA.

A laptop teardown demonstration - one of last year's most popular features - will return, offering attendees a look inside a standard machine and highlighting common points of failure. The event will also showcase student work from INFO 4260: Computing On Earth, a class taught by Steven Jackson, professor of information science and science & technology studies and Vice Provost for Academic Innovation that examines the environmental impacts of computing from sourcing and extraction to energy and water to waste and repair.

Globally, electronic waste continues to rise, reaching an estimated 62 million tons in 2022 - a figure projected to climb to 82 million tons by 2030. Events like the Repair Fair offer a local response to this growing challenge by promoting repair culture, reducing landfill waste, and encouraging more sustainable relationships with technology.

The event is free and open to the public.