Monday, November 19, 2012

UPCYCLING: Why re-use resources?


By researching ways to go green, I discovered a hip new trend called upcycling.  Upcycling is the use of waste materials to provide useful products. It's taking something that you would otherwise throw away and finding a new purpose for it.  Below are 3 reasons why we should upcycle more often.

1.  It is a reinvestment in the environment. Upcycling helps the environment in a couple ways.  First, your old items aren’t going to landfill sites, where gases like methane are released and can contribute to climate change.  Also, upcycling makes use of old items, which saves you from buying new things.  “This saves money in your pocket, as well as reduces need for more goods to be manufactured.” (www.greenlivingtips.com)

2.  It can be fun and creative.  Upcycling encourages creativity.  People have made wallets out of innertubes, fishbowls out of old Macs, and even a wine rack out of chopsticks.  “If you challenge yourself to find new uses for old things, you’ll discover a wealth of creativity.” (www.ecolivingexperts.com)
3.  It requires less energy and resource.  Recycling is great but it requires energy and resources to collect, sort and process unwanted waste.  “It’s all about taking disposable things and creating something useful… usually the only energy being used is your own…” (www.upcycling.com)            

-Lawrence

Old Mac computer turned into fishbowl


Grey Goose bottles into vases, or reuseable drinking glasses






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