Definition

upcycling

Part of the Personal computing glossary:

Upcycling is the practice of creating a useable product from waste or unwanted items or adapting an existing product in some way to add value. The purpose of upcycling is reducing waste and improving the efficiency of resource use.

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downcycling
Downcycling is a recycling practice that involv...
(WhatIs.com)
recycling
Recycling is the practice of reusing items that...
(WhatIs.com)

Here are a few examples of upcycling:

Buildings constructed from shipping containers or materials salvaged from a dump.
A laptop case made from fused plastic shopping bags.
Sculpture created from junkyard finds.
Broken electronic toys adapted to become musical instruments (known as circuit-bending).
Jewelry fashioned from old computer parts.
A bench made from wooden pallets.
A blender integrated into a bicycle so that it works as the bike is pedaled.

Upcycling is a variation on recycling. Another variation, downcycling, is the practice of breaking down waste and unwanted items to their components or materials.

This was last updated in December 2012

Contributor(s): Ivy Wigmore

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

Related Terms

Definitions

downcycling
- Downcycling is a recycling practice that involves breaking an item down into its component elements or materials. Once the constituent elements or materials are recovered, they are reused if possib... (WhatIs.com)
recycling
- Recycling is the practice of reusing items that would otherwise be discarded as waste. Variations of recycling include upcycling, which involves adding value to an item for reuse, and downcycling, ... (WhatIs.com)
precycling
- Precycling is the practice of avoiding the acquisition of unnecessary items that will eventually have to be recycled or dealt with as waste. (WhatIs.com)

Glossaries

Personal computing
- Terms related to personal computers, including definitions about computers sold as consumer products and words and phrases about laptops, tablets and smartphones.
Internet applications
- This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

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