Why upcycling

Since the beginning of time. Even before humans, when trees would lose their leaves and the Earth would take it through the composting process to make rich, nutrient dense soil. However, in context of modern day and more consumer-based societies, entrepreneur Gunter Pauli first used the term in Even the book itself was upcyclable. Cradle to Cradle was printed with soy-based ink on plastic pages. The soy-based ink could be removed, so that another book could be printed on the pages, or the plastic could be upcycled into an equal or higher quality product.

The idea is finding new ways to address the non-renewable resources, global trash epidemic and other global social and environmental changes. McDonough and Braungart challenged us, designers and innovators across industry to remake the way we make things.

I share all my favorite upcycling projects on my Facebook page Upcycle Warrior. You can also check out the DIY and upcycling ideas on this blog. So to complete this post, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite upcycling blogs where I get some of the best inspiration. This website is awesome! Upcycleart has over 5. Man this girl can pump out several posts a week.

I mostly follow this on Facebook , but they also have a great website that takes contributors. CraftGossip Recycling is all about the variety of projects people come up with to live an eco-friendly yet pretty and festive lifestyle.

Read more here on why landfills are bad for the environment. The two terms recycling and upcycling sound similar, and can often be confused. Whilst both have a goal towards improving sustainability and helping the environment, making less go to landfill , they both have two quite different meanings which we will break down for you.

Upcycling is when you reuse discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original. Upcycling basically provides things a second existence, it revives the object but with a higher user value than what it had in its previous life. This reinvention process is even more valuable when the discarded items are somewhat unique. Recycling is when waste is put through a process and made into reusable material. When you recycle an item, it goes back into production and is transformed into a completely different item.

Recycling can happen over and over again and depending on the item, there is usually some loss of recovery each time you go through the cycle. Here are a few easy items that you can upcycle at home instead of throwing them away. Your trash could be someone elses treasure, sell your upcycled items on ebay, or start a mini business for it!

Furniture is a good place to start… Before you throw away that old bedside table or chest of drawers, think about whether you could give it a new lease of life.

Why not invest in some chalk paint to give it a shabby chic feel? You can try changing the handles and lining the drawers too, to create your own unique piece. There are so many gre at ideas online to take inspiration from. It processes up to three tons of excess stock every day and converts it into upcycled slivers, which can be blended with other fibers and re-spun into yarn to create new garments.

Sounds impressive, right? A survey of the rest of the world paints an even more alarming picture: The US delivers an estimated Any model that encourages more consumption than is necessary is inherently unsustainable. A system such as the Billie has its merits, but it also has its limits. But a project like this may not be as practical elsewhere. In other words, duplicating the technology behind the Billie so it can be applied everywhere is a thrilling possibility, but that, too, would weigh heavily on the environment.

Enter the circular economy, which proposes a closed-loop process of consumption. For supply chains such as the one in our company, the premise is simple. It encourages manufacturers to use waste as a resource instead of dumping materials and further burdening the planet. Finding a worthy replacement then saves a staggering amount of water, and relieves our cities of a portion of waste. Paper is shredded and turned into pulp, plastic is shredded and melted into pellets, glass is smashed and melted to be recast.

This downcycling is an essential step in the recycling process, but it does degrade the value of the materials. Upcycling is a creative process where waste is looked at as a resource. Materials are reused in a clever new way, giving them a second life and function.