Why small appliances end up in landfills, and what you can do about it

James McGuffin-Cawley, faculty director of Sears think[box] and the Arthur S. Holden Professor at Case School of Engineering, weighed in on why so many small appliances get tossed into landfills rather than being fixed. “There’s a cultural component,” he said. “There’s not much exposure to fixing things. It’s not part of people’s childhood anymore, and it’s not part of the educational system.”