Never Say Never on a Mend Opportunity

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the humble wheelie bin.

It's made from tough, durable plastic of some sort and is now several years old.

It has been hauled and lifted and upended by a truck and sometimes fallen off the curb.

The lid has been cracked and finally one of the hinge extensions broke through and the lid flopped about and I thought we would have to order a new one from the council.

But Craig is a most practical man.

He plastic welded the lid. Basically that is melting and melding the plastic together with a soldering iron.

It's not pretty but it's solid again.

And look what you can do with a bit of aluminium and a riveter.

He has used some leftover metal from the plane he is building in the garage and stabilised the area from the outside....

and the inside.

Again, it's not "pretty" but we have saved another broken item from ending up in landfill. While I don't expect everyone to be this handy, I so think we could all take a second look at something that we are contemplating throwing out because it is broken.

I for one was about to write off this bin. I would have said it had serviced well and was well and truly past it but a bit of practical thinking has taught me a really good lesson.

Once again Craig has shown me the quiet ingenuity of a bushman.

This bin will go on for another few years yet I'll warrant.

I think our world would appreciate a second look at our throw away society.