Upcycling, the new norm!

 

Curiosity, when coupled with imagination, aided by some hardware, and managing some time can give life to an old bicycle, used bottles, worn out tires, pallet wood, glassware, plastic junk, tattered furniture, scrap metal, hand-me-down books, ragged clothes, etc. They can be transformed into something new products, unique in their own way, teeming with life. And the process is called Upcycling. It’s nothing but turning what is called waste into products of higher quality.

 

Why Upcycle?

 

For fun, of course. Why do something which doesn’t promise to amuse us. Using our creative inputs to reuse or re-purpose what we already have and making something new completely changes our outlook towards trash. We can easily fall in love with the process of transforming what we already have into something new, giving it a new life. When we start upcycling more old goods, everything seems valuable and beautiful. We begin to see life in everything and we refuse to throwaway any form of trash. Each old object has a story in itself and we could either preserve it or weave a new story around it. 

 

With upcycling, apart from fun, we can actually save an awful lot of energy and resources that have gone into creating all the things we use. In order to reduce the use of resources again, we have to look at what we already have and think about what we need, so that we need not buy any more goods. We ourselves create endless possibilities to reuse items around our house and in no time, we start living a more beautiful, environmental friendly lifestyle. Once we start upcycling, it never leaves us. 

 

 

Africa Re-invented, from books, by Keri Muller

 

There’s nothing wrong in learning new things and we shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes while trying. Many people are making a living by upcycling items and selling them for profit online. We can easily start it as a hobby and who knows where it leads. You could become an artist or a professional!

 

How to start Upcycling?

 

There’s a saying, ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. So, the idea of upcycling depends on the trash we generate and our perception towards it. Nobody knows who can come up with what. One cannot decide which pieces are treasure and which ones is trash. It all depends on how creative we’re willing to get. If we look around, almost anything can be upcycled into something new. In other words, we can call it creative recycling.

 

 

 

Recycle vs Upcycle

 

There’s a small difference between recycling and upcycling. When we recycle something, the material or object loses its original form. Glassware, plastics, metals, etc. should be broken down and re-melted. Upcyclethat.com describes this process as ‘downcycling’.  But in upcycling, the original object rarely loses its characteristics. We just creatively figure out new ways to repurpose the old objects. Consider this example. We are currently using disposable water bottles in large quantities. But after using them, we just throw them in the recycle bin where it is taken for recycling. This is recycling. Instead of throwing it away, we can modify it into a water sprinkler for garden by making holes and attaching it to a pipe, we can use it as a planter, a pen holder, a lamp, etc. This is upcycling. 

 

 

So, look around your home, find the objects that you don’t need, take your time and use your imagination to turn them into something new, something you feel essential, something you need not buy. Be an Upcycler!

 

Image sources: Google