Upcycling: How Does It Work? (No Advertising)

Dear users, dear authors,
Would anyone like to explain upcycling to everyone who isn’t familiar with it yet?
Do you like it?
Do you do it?
What kinds of projects do you have on this topic?

Hi there,

I’m afraid I can’t really explain it, and I don’t have a project either.

But I think upcycling is totally awesome, and I’d actually really love to try it someday. Unfortunately, I just don’t have enough time.

That’s why I have to settle for recycling all kinds of things at home.

Best regards
Birgit

Back in the day, people used to say “turn old into new”—meaning that old things you’d otherwise throw away are spruced up so that something completely new is created.
I think it’s a great idea, because far too much gets thrown away in our society. But you really need good ideas and a lot of craftsmanship to make it look truly great. Unfortunately, I’m not very talented in that area. That’s why I’d rather not try it.

Upcycling involves turning things that are no longer usable into something usable again—in whatever form. This is what distinguishes upcycling from downcycling—the type of recycling where things are turned into raw materials, even those that could still have been repaired or used in some other way. While this also reduces waste, it consumes a lot of energy.

I do quite a bit of upcycling around the house: I cut the holey, cleaned fruit and vegetable bags (which, by the way, I always reuse multiple times and take with me when I go shopping) into strips and crochet them into laundry baskets. I weave baskets out of newspaper tubes. For my herbs, I’ve turned large yogurt cups into little greenhouses, and my sprouting jars sit in holders made from small yogurt cups. So, I generally try to buy as little as possible and make as much as I can from what I already have. And I’m quite happy that this hobby now has such a nice-sounding name :-).

The only thing I do is turn old T-shirts into rags for my husband to use when he’s working on the car.
I don’t think that’s quite what they mean here…

My cousins make baskets out of old coffee packaging. They look really great.

One thing that always works is repurposing old boxes. My kids paint them in bright colors and decorate them with glitter stickers or glue beads and seashells onto them. And just like that, another new jewelry box for all kinds of treasures is ready.

Right now, my husband is working on a large-scale upcycling project. He was given an old shipping container that’s already a bit rusty, and he’s turning it into a tool shed.

@Pe-Ka, it depends—if the T-shirts are no longer wearable and you turn them into useful oilcloths, then that is an upgrade. But if they would still be wearable but you just don’t like them anymore, then there are actually better alternatives—e.g., a clothing collection.

My old T-shirts, bed linens, and towels also all eventually become cleaning cloths: some things simply can’t be upgraded anymore, so it’s nice when they can keep serving a purpose after being “downgraded.”

Could you please describe the thing with the coffee packages in more detail? I’m not familiar with that.

The shirts are really only good for that now.
The nice ones from the kids go to my neighbor. She has two boys and two girls who are younger than my children. She’s always thrilled. So it’s not just the shirts—anything from my kids that’s still in good condition goes there.

My own clothes that are still in good shape go to the SOMA social market. They’re always happy to receive donations of all kinds.

Oh dear, I’m not exactly sure how it works with the coffee packaging.
Here, she simply repurposes the outer coffee packaging—I think she uses the ones from whole-bean coffee—and sews a basket out of it.
Unfortunately, I rarely see my mom; she has a basket like that, so I could take a picture of it and post it here.
But if you Google “upcycling and coffee bags,” you’ll find a few pictures right away.

Thanks for the tip—I didn’t realize this technique was so widespread. I just watched a video about making a shopping bag out of these coffee packs, and I think it’s a great idea. For anyone who drinks a lot of coffee, this is a really interesting way to repurpose the packs—and for me, it’s a chance to think about what other recyclables I might be able to repurpose in a similar way.

I also have an example of upcycling from my earlier crafting days. I made flowers out of old packing paper. To do this, I punched out circles in two sizes using a paper punch, then crumpled them up and worked stamp ink into the creases. Then I ironed them flat again and stacked them into a flower. Here are a few photos of them:

And since I’m already digging through my old craft folder on my computer, I found another example: I turned regular shoe boxes into
pretty decorative boxes. I painted them and covered them with satin wallpaper. And since I have pictures of them, feel free to take a look.

All good things come in threes... so here’s one more idea. I covered a laundry detergent box with wrapping paper. I covered all the edges and the top
rim with fabric tape. I still use it today as a
container for my rolls of wrapping paper.

@Schnuckelina,
those are lovely ideas you have there.
When creating the pattern, though, it would be better to obscure the brand name.

You’re right, Josefa. Thanks for pointing that out.