THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT
UP-CYCLING TWENTY FACTS, STATISTICS, WORDS, & OPINIONS
TWENTY
FACTS
Upcycling is not a new concept. Recycling takes consumer materials — mostly plastic, paper, metal and glass — and breaks them down so their base materials can be remade into a new consumer product, often of lesser quality. When you upcycle an item, you aren’t breaking down the materials. You may be refashioning it — like cutting a t-shirt into strips of yarn — but it’s still made of the same materials as when you started. Also, the upcycled item is typically better or the same quality as the original. The tradition of reusing found objects (objet trouvé) in mainstream art came of age sporadically through the 20th century. Upcycling has been proven to save money. The term upcycle began to gain traction in the mid 90s. In 2002, William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s book ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things’ brought the term into the public eye, and solidified its use in pop culture. Today, that idea is interpreted as meaning we should create from what is being discarded; whenever possible. Some would say that upcycling must move goods or supplies up the supply chain while recycling does not. Some definitions state that for something to be considered upcycled there must be an increase in worth or quality. We are seeing new companies pop up across the country founded on the very idea of upcycling. The increased awareness of environmental responsibility and a slow economy has led to a major increase in upcycling. Home owners are looking for ways to renovate with salvaged, and in some cases, free materials. From green companies to your Mother’s kitchen, people are looking to save money and the planet. Upcycling does both. Upcycling is designed to work in opposition to consumer culture, encouraging people to think of new and innovative ways to use things, instead of simply buying new consumer goods. There are all sorts of examples of upcycling, ranging from building houses out of entirely discarded materials to turning plastic bags into yarn for knitting. Everyone can upcycle, which is part of the appeal. People can participate at whatever level they feel comfortable with, from delving through dumpsters to salvage useful things to re-using containers rather than tossing them or throwing them out. By upcycling, people generate minimal amounts of garbage, and they reduce their environmental impact by consuming less, thereby putting less pressure on manufacturers and producers. Upcycling is essentially the “reuse” in “reduce, reuse, recycle.”
TWENTY
STATISTICS
The average family throws away 6 trees worth of paper. It takes the same amount of energy to make one new can as it does to make twenty recycled cans. The energy saved from recycling one bottle will power a 60w lightbulb for 6 hours. The amount of aluminum Americans throw away each year is enough to provide the auto industry with all the materials it needs to build a years worth of cars. Every ton of paper recycled saves seven trees. Every piece of plastic ever made still exists today. By using a re-usable drink container, an average person can elimanate the need for 100 disposable bottles per year. We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year. To produce each weeks sunday nwspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down. About 1/3 of an average landfill is made up of packaging material. Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a skyscraper. Americans use 2.5m plastic bottles every hour. In one week we go through about 10 billion plastic bags world wide. It takes an average plastic bottle 700 years to decompose. Recycling 1 tonne of plastic saves about 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space. Using one less napkin a day could save more than a billion pounds of napkins from landfills each year. Human manufacturing dumps over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals in US landscapes and waterways every year, many of which are carcinogenic. The human population grew in the US by 65% between 1960 and 2005 while the amount of trash doubled to 4.5 pounds per person daily; indicating that more waste is produced per household today than ever before. Most Americans throw away 70 pounds of clothing and textiles every year, but most of that (95% in fact) is recyclable. Only 15% of all textiles discarded in the US are recycled annually.
TWENTY
WORDS
Re-use
Skill
Develop
Asthetic
Create
Visual
Craft
Excitment
Hand-made
Sparing
Creativity
Individual
Thought
Unique
Simplistic
Ornimental
Complex
Purposeful
Basic
Meaningful
TWENTY
OPINIONS
‘The success of up-cycling depends on the product you are attempting to up-cycle as to wether the outcome will be effective.’ ‘From trash to treasure’ ‘Upcycling gives an item a better purpose’
‘The outcomes are worth it.’ ‘Up-cycling is something that I think should be encouraged more. More people should learn how easy it is to save money in this way.’
‘Upcycling helps to show individuality’
‘To a larger or lesser extent buying useable vintage and antique items is a way of preserving not only the past but perhaps our future.’
‘‘Upcycling will help the environment from un-nessasary damage and land fill’
‘I like upcycling mainly because it’s possible to up-cycle almost anything.’
‘Creating new objects out of old ones seems a waste of time when you could buy the product new.’
‘I love how thoughtful up-cycling is and can be, I use it mainly for gifts rather tha for myself.’
‘I find upcycling a great way of saving money, and and enjoyable way too.’
‘Upcycling can give a unique and exciting new take on an item’
‘I like the idea of saving the environment, which is why I upcycle a lot,’
‘‘Upcycling is the most personal way of modifying an item as whatever the person decided to do with it shows their individuality,’
‘If you are to up-cycle for decorative products then it is a good idea, however to up-cycle to create something of importance that has to be used then it might be worth just buying the product.’ ‘What’s old is new again, but with a twist’ ‘I am really excited by the idea of up-cycling’ ‘Some of my most cherished possesions have been created through up-cycling’
‘The idea seems a bit pointless when you could by a more substantial item that will probably last longer anyway.’ ‘It can be very time consming, but if you percivere with it the outcomes are worth it.’ ‘Up-cycling is something that I think should be encouraged more. More people should learn how easy it is to save money in this way.’
TEN
PHOTOS
These five photographs are my own examples of upcycling. Five others are shown throughout the book.
Emily Patrick LCA 2015