Isn't there one R missing?

If planned obsolescence was made illegal there would be more permanence in the products we buy. Things could be required to be made to last not as throw-away items to be replaced after a short time.

The manufacturers have a long plan for their replacements and more replacements to be sold endlessly wasting our resources and filling our landfills.

Also Rethink. We need to rethink how we can not only reduce, reuse, and recycle things, but we also need to rethink how we can build them in the first place so that they don't need to have a single life.

We need to think Cradle to CRADLE, not cradle to grave. What I mean is something like the glass bottles that are made square so that after they're finished being drunk out of they can be laid as glass bricks to make low cost housing.

Also, we need to try to banish recycle as much as possible, at least our current state of recycling which is really more "crush, melt down and totally remake into an inferior product using lots of energy" than what recycling SHOULD be. There's a massive industry based around the current way we recycle that in fact is really encouraging us to maintain a throw-away society.

Yeah, I've always just placed repairing under the heading of "reuse". I try to fix things before I consider getting a replacement.

Also, the suggestion of "refuse" falls under "reduce".

You'll be pleased to learn that there are 5 R's!

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle.

Refuse means to refuse to buy things that are wasteful. You've got the other four.

Interesting point. But I think "Repairing" would be avoided if we all followed the simple 3 R's. I may be interpreting your question wrong, but if we reduced our use, we would be cutting down on the waste. If we recycled, instead of repairing, you technically don't lose out on anything, as you'll be able to Reuse it later.

Hmmm... Maybe repairing falls under the category of reusing.

I would also tend to think that it has become a lost art to repair things yourself as our fathers and grandfathers did, and that paying someone to repair things is expensive these days, so people assume it is easier/cheaper to just throw it out and buy another one..