Upcycle That

Upcycle That

  • Submitted By: ashrbee54
  • Date Submitted: 11/18/2014 3:55 AM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 589
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 1

Sustainability is a term frequently used by our leaders and planners but is often not questioned or defined. The root word sustain implies that it means making something last. However, what does it really mean to sustain something and what is it that we are talking about sustaining-- nature, our environment, our world? These are all very abstract terms themselves. Around the time the term sustainability arose, scientists had discovered a series of threats to our environment and viewed these as a major problem to the endurance of the human population. The question then became: "How can we sustain humanity in today's world?" The American Heritage dictionary defines sustain as "supplying with necessities or nourishment," which addresses the key point of sustainability: what are the necessities to ensure that human will be around for future generations?
What if we didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars every year to break down materials during the recycling process? What if our everyday waste items could be directly converted for new, often better purposes? What if we were able to repurpose waste materials on our own instead of relying on fancy machinery to do it for us? The answer to these three question lies in upcycling. Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials or products of better quality or of better environmental value. By showcasing discarded items as a resource, the goal of upcycling is to inspire people to creatively repurpose and reuse what they already have.
The difference between recycling and upcycling? Recycling takes consumer products and industrial materials, mainly plastics, metals, paper, and glass, and breaks them down into their base components that are re-workable into new consumer products. The problem with that is many of these recycled materials are of lesser quality than the original products. In upcycling, the materials are not being broken down, thus retaining the integrity of the materials. Items are...