Upcycling, is the creative process of transforming or converting by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality of great environmental value.
Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which involves converting materials or products into new materials of lesser quality. It involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material. The first recorded use of the term upcycling was by Reiner Pilz of Pilz GmbH in an article by Thornton Kay of Salvo in 1994 (wiki). The upcycling concept was the title of the German book written by Gunter Pauli in 1998, the free translation of upsizing (the opposite of downsizing) book first published in 1998. The German edition was adapted to the German language and culture by Johannes F. Hartkemeyer, then Director of the Volkshochschule in Osnabruck. The concept was later incorporated by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. They state that the goal of upcycling is to prevent wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones. This 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.
This is a significant step towards regenerative design culture where the end products are cleaner, healthier, and usually have a better value than the material inputs.
For 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 used in the manufacturing of plastic lumber applications. However, unlike the engineered polymer ABS which hold properties of several plastics well, recycled plastics suffer phase-separation that causes structural weakness in the final product.
In 2009, Belinda Smith from Reuters wrote that upcycling had increased in the rich countries but observed that upcycling was a necessity in poorer ones.
UPCYCLING IN UGANDA:
1. Social Innovation Academy Centre (SINA) located in the Hills of Mpigi District, several metres away from Mpigi local government office has demonstrated that wastes could be put into good use. The centre was started by a German philanthropist called Eitheine who was sponsoring several children from an orphanage home in Masaka. However on learning that, after years in school most of the children couldn’t find any job to do or work to start on which made it a regrettable decision for the years spent in school while remaining unemployed. In July 2014 marked the birth of SINA foundation and a turning point in the lives of the local community and residents of Mpigi District.
The social centre enrolled more than 20 scholars and has graduated at least 3 projects in the two years of existence. The centre believes that every individual can become social empowered to create an impact in their communities, through innovative identification, community support and minimal environmental disturbance.
The facility has nurtured over more than 20 youth’s in their different capacities with varying skills from construction, photography, sewing, making paper beads, bracelets, sweaters and art using environmental wastes. You can reach them through Roland on +256704833261
2. Glo Inventory (GLI):
Glo Inventory is small community based enterprise that deals in recycling of African fabrics and wastes into various products such as; ear rings, backpack, laptop bags, women purses and bracelets. The enterprise was established by a lady known as Akello Gloria Gladys who has however enrolled several youth’s over time and trained them with hands on skills to start on with life. She further trains her group in skills such as catering, pasty and community development. You can reach her on +256790790694
You can further support all initiatives that use upcycling products from places of handout such as Endiro coffee shop, Sukali Bistro – Mbale, SINA Foundation and Glo Inventories.
Ismail Hassan 