Going Green with Upcycling: Breaking it Down

Upcycling is on the rise, it is becoming increasingly popular among both groups and individuals whom are concerned about climate change. Upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value.. The term was originally coined by William Mc Donough and Michael Braugart in their ground breaking book that focused on the ecologically intelligent design, which is also referred to as cradle-to-cradle. Which is remaking the way thing are produced, and was published back in 2002.

The act of recycling is quite beneficial, however, it requires energy and resources to be collected, sorted and processed from unwanted items and waste. This idea looks in comparison to the cradle-to-grave view of manufacturing, which was originally conceived during the Industrial Revolution and is still primarily in practice to this day. As McDonough and Braugart put it, the cradle-to-grave model is one where resources are extracted, shaped into products, sold and eventually disposed of in a graves of some kind, this generally be the likes ofy a landfill or incinerator.

On the other hand, upcycling is an even greener way of recycling and it allows one to find a new purpose for their unwanted items before they dispose of them. The upcycling movement is focused on taking disposable things and creating something useful from them. Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other half of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material. As an example, during the recycling process of plastics, other than those used to create bottles, many different types of plastics are mixed, resulting in a hybrid. This hybrid is then used in the manufacturing of plastic lumber applications. However, unlike the engineered polymer Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which hold properties of several plastics well, recycled plastics suffer phase-separation that causes structural weakness in the final product.

According to Cradle-to-Cradle, recycling is actually an example of "downcycling," whereby unrecoverable and unusable by-products are created in the recycling process. By recycling items toward uses that were never intended during their original production process (example: soda bottles into carpeting), they are effectively wrestled into a form that requires as much energy to produce than manufacturing a new carpet. Therefore, in the end, the rug is ultimately still on its way to a landfill, creating , eventual waste.It would not be enough to simply reprocess trash into new products; which there should simply be no trash to repurpose. White writing paper is ultimately downcycled into materials such as cardboard and therefore, cannot be used to create more premium writing paper. The industrial system that "takes, makes and wastes" can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social and economic value. While, any product could be continually reused and upcycled into something useful. It is the process of converting an industrial nutrient into something of similar or greater value, in its second life. Aluminum and glass can usually be upcycled into the same quality of aluminum and glass as the original products.

Upcycling is the use of waste materials to provide useful products, it is described as reusing a material without degrading the quality and composition of the material for its next use. The top three reasons why upcycling is better than recycling. 1. Upcycling Saves Money. 2. Upcycling Reduces CO2 Entering the Atmosphere 3. Upcycling Encourages Creativity There is a need for a paradigm shift for how the world views product lifespans, moving from a "cradle-to-grave" mentality where products die in a landfill to a "cradle-to-cradle" mentality where they continue to feed production. The significance of upcycling: The goal of upcycling is to prevent wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones. This in turn reduces the consumption of new raw materials when creating new products. Reducing the use of new raw materials can result in a reduction of energy usage, air pollution, water pollution and even greenhouse gas emissions. Upcycling becomes dually important.

First, the practice reduces the amount of waste that we produce and ultimately goes into the ground for longer than any of us will be around. Secondly, it also reduces the need for new virgin material to be harvested as feedstock for new generations of product. In the case of plastic, this means less oil wells drilled. For metals, less mountains mined. For paper, less trees felled. All around this means less expended energy.

Upcycling helps the environment in several ways: The old items are not ending their life cycle in landfill sites, where a gas called methane is released, which contribute to climate change. There is no need to recycle old items in the traditional sense, which requires energy and resources If old items can be used, it would save consumers from buying new things thus, reducing the need for more goods to be manufactured. Getting upcycling into mainstream: Upcycling has seen an increase in use due to its current marketability and the lowered cost of reused materials. Inhabitat, a blog devoted to sustainability and design, holds an annual upcycling design competition with entries coming from around the globe. If upcycling is going to become mainstream, then the corporate world needs to see that it can be profitable. A growing number of companies are focusing on upcycling although the trend is still in its infancy with industry-wide figures yet to be produced.

Upcycling is used on a range of products including jewellery, furniture and fashion items, such as making bracelets from old flip flops, lamps from blenders, and turning skateboards into furniture such as chairs and bookcases. British company Elvis & Kresse Organization (E&KO) uses industrial waste to make new luxury products, turning fire hoses into bags, belts, wallets and cufflinks. In recent years, the US-based company Terracycle has brought upcycling into mainstream by creating partnerships with major brands, such J&J, Kraft Food etc, to upcycle their packaging into new items. Such a large scale operation is only possible with the help of thousands of consumers around the world committed to divert the garbage from the landfill, who send them their used products and packaging.Terracycle is also gearing up to expand its operations into Brazil, Mexico and Britain. In Brazil, the company will recruit groups to collect Frito-Lay‘s Sun Chip bags, which will be shredded and turned into clipboards.

Upcycling has also shown significant growth across the world. The number of products on Etsy tagged with the word "upcycled" increased from about 7,900 in January 2010 to nearly 30,000 a year later—and 198 increase of 275 percent. As of October 2011, that number stood at nearly 167,000 an additional increase of 450%. In addition, an online retailer called Hipcycle is now dedicated to upcycled products, offering products that are as attractive, durable, and otherwise as desirable as traditional equivalent products. While in developing countries, where new raw materials are often expensive, upcycling is commonly practiced, largely due to impoverished conditions. Supporters of the environmentally friendly practice of upcycling say people in developing countries have effectively been upcycling for years, using old packaging and clothing in new ways, although more out of need than for the environment. However, upcycling is now taking off in other countries, reflecting an increased interest in eco-friendly products, particularly ones that are priced at an affordable level and proving profitable for the manufacturers.

A garment factor of Hirdaramani, located Agalawatta, Sri Lanka that was built in 2008, was analyzed. It showcases Sri Lanka's new drive to become the 'world's number-one ethical apparel sourcing destination'. There is no cramped, stiflingly hot darkness, child labour and a floor littered with rubbish , the stereotypical symbols of sweatshops. Skylights, airy space and views of mango and banana trees are very visible. There are rows of sewing machines, and 675 machinists produce about 16,000 pieces a day. There are T-shirts, polo shirts and sweatshirts for such brands as Tesco, M&S, Decathlon, Tommy Hilfiger etc.

The machinists are paid more than the industrial average - 8,000 rupees a month; the minimum wage is 7,850 rupees a month. This factory was also awarded the Leed Gold Award in 2008 (Leader in Energy and Environmental Development, a rating system developed by the US Green Building Council). Four factories in Sri Lanka have the award. No other apparel factories in the world have this certification. De Castro, the owner and manager is designer and an environmentalist likes to use bits of fabrics into an accessories, a hair clip maybe, it's just pure manipulation.

There is a lot of 'pre-consumer waste': the world of scraps, trimmings, cuttings, damaged lines, which is an inevitable by-product, many argue, from making clothes. Brands often order more fabric than they need just in case a line proves popular; if you are cutting out T-shirts, there will always be some fabric left. There is more waste at the textile mills. Making fabric is 'more luck than science' points out Simon Weston, who is from Bath, and is the director of Ocean Lanka, a mill near Malwana, Sri Lanka, which makes fabric for such brands as Victoria's Secret, Tesco, Next and Nike. It is impossible to predict how a fabric will behave weave and weight, which is why a lot is discarded as trial and error. Ocean Lanka produces two to three million metres of fabric a month; about eight per cent of that is waste. In fact, both Hirdaramani and Ocean Lanka claim to have a zero waste policy.

The scraps from Hirdaramani are shipped to China, where they are shredded and pulped to be spun and woven into new products; or sold for car insulation or upholstery. Ocean Lanka sells large leftovers to dealers from Russia or the Ukraine, where they feed a more unregulated market. Smaller amounts are sold locally and made into mops or mats. But De Castro's vision trumps this recycling. Rather than it becoming a pulp, it becomes a piece of fashion. It is 'upcycled' into a superior product. It also saves on the energy needed to send the waste to China (and on pulping); and also the mills aren't producing cloth for her clothes because the cloth already exists. All factories are so conscientious. 'The textile industry has been reusing, but the level has slowed down since fast fashion arrived. Between 2009 and 2011 consumption of clothing for every man, woman and child rose by more than 30 per cent. Ultra-low-cost clothes have created a waste problem. It's just one of the ways in which there is over-consumption.

Overproducing fabric and unworn, partially finished or finished products not ready to go to the retail store. 'It's not just the raw material - cotton with its pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, water issues - it's also the consumption side. The fashion industry, which has four seasons a year, creates an almost planned obsolescence. There are other hurdles for recyclers such as de Castro. Some companies stipulate that their fabric can't be 'repurposed' until six months after the end of the season. Others are more extreme. Many of the brands have written into their contracts that the suppliers are supposed to keep the fabric for six months and then destroy it, and that means incinerate. But other companies have started to embrace de Castro's methods, specifically Tesco, the second-biggest clothing distributor in the world.

The collaboration with Tesco pushed de Castro to create using a more industrial model - no longer hundreds of the same design, but thousands. It was a real step forward for the eco fashion movement. Working with leftovers certainly challenged Tesco. Each garment was a slightly different shape or has a panel of a slightly different shade, and that was fine and in normal ranges everything is consistent quality. De Castro is about to go one step further with 'feeder' cloth.

Feeder cloth is effectively scrap fabric that is fed through the printing machine to ensure all the printing heads are running properly. Once the design is being printed correctly - normally after 30 metres or so - the feeder cloth is cut off, and the good fabric gets printed. The feeder cloth then gets reused, often as much as four times, on both sides. It's got mistakes, human mistakes, machine mistakes, experimentation, the wrong colour, it's unpredictable and it's completely reversible.

"Downcycling," merely postpones the consequences of the problem. "Upcycling," on the other hand, completely reuses materials in ways that do not degrade their quality. The upcycling approach is "eco-effective," as opposed to the "eco-efficient" approach of conventional recycling. With more and more corporations considering their product's' complete life cycles, the application of the cradle-to-cradle model could have profound implications not only for the environment but also for investors. Eco-effective companies can potentially lower their raw material costs and generate more sustainable returns. Upcycling represents a truly cyclical, balanced process that all industries and companies should be aiming towards. All the products could be drastically changed if the beginning of their design started with the goal of not having them end up in a landfill.

While traditional environmentalism chants a reduction mantra (reduce, reuse, recycle), the cradle-to-cradle theory is rooted in capitalism, which encourages growth. The cradle-to-cradle theory almost conveys a sense of inevitability. Investors with foresight can support the transformation from an economy that presages its own funeral (cradle-to-grave) to an economy that celebrates its perpetual reincarnation (cradle-to-cradle). And these investors can profit financially while encouraging the adaptation of what the authors claim is a truly sustainable form of capitalism.