Introduction

“The act of taking something no longer in use and giving it a second life and new function. In doing so, the finished product often becomes more practical, valuable and beautiful than what it previously was.”, this is the art of upcycling.

The number of products on Etsy and Pinterest tagged with the word “upcycled” increased from about 7,900 in January 2010 to nearly 30,000 a year later. In April 2013, the hashtag “upcycled” had already been used 270.000 times. It is important to note that upcycling is quite similar to recycling in the respect that it helps create less garbage, which in turn minimizes environmental impact, however it differs in regards that is involves giving something old a new use.

To highlight this, one company, Terracycle, has asked people to recycle their old food wrappers, in turn, they upcycle the wrappers into new, useable goods such as backpacks or notebooks. This type of production feeds into the idea of “cradle to cradle”, or the eradication of the idea of waste.

Upcycling helps lessen the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. In addition, upcycling also helps reduce CO2 emissions by using old materials instead of new ones. It was found that for every ton of discarded textiles used again; 20 tons of CO2 is prevented from entering the atmosphere. While it also promotes sustainable innovation and creativity, and helps preserve our resources at the same time.