Upcycling - Why do it?

Upcycling: A process that can be repeated in perpetuity of returning materials back to a pliable, usable form without degradation to their latent value—moving resources back up the supply chain.

Upcycling is becoming more and more popular in our Portland, Oregon neighborhood.  Taking an object that has been discarded and turning it back into a usable form is not only good for the earth and all living things, it is good for the soul.

Upcycling is not a new idea. My grandparents, who survived the Great Depression, were awesome upcyclers! 

I remember playing with giant balls of rubberbands and string, saved from every package they received. I remember stacks of empty Purina Dog Chow bags that became sacks for carrying items to market. I remember my grandmother even upcycling the dinner scraps by making it into a big soup. If it got too far along for humans to eat, she would mix it into dog chow and feed it to the 37 farm cats and one dog that patrolled their land. Dogs and cats ARE omnivores after all. Corncobs and the Sears Catalog were put into the outhouse before toilet paper became a household staple. Flour sacks became dish towels as well as my school dresses. Old jeans became part of a scarecrow or a polishing rag. Other rags became the tail bows on my handmade kite, which was upcycled from leftover balsa wood and newspaper. Leftover fruit fed the hogs, which became bacon and pork chops. Manure from all the animals fed our huge garden. Lard rendered became soap,  made from lye which was upcycled from wood ashes taken from the fireplace. Old sweaters were disassembled and the yarn used to knit socks or smaller sweaters. When sheets wore out, they were cut into strips for rugs. When blankets wore out, they were made into batting for quilts, which were made from old clothes, cut and sewn into wonderful patterns. If your sock got a hole in it, you darned it. You didn't throw it away! In fact, Almost nothing was thrown away. Even bathwater was handed down, and lastly watered the garden!

Back then it wasn't called upcycling.

It was called 'making ends meet.'

Recycling and upcycling is as old as humanity! Do a Google search on the history of recycling and upcycling and read for hours. Glass from the Imperial Byzantine times was recycled in the ancient city of Sagalassos, Turkey. Old bronze coins in Roman times were melted and made into statues. In Britain, dust and ash from coal fires was recycled into brick. The list just goes on and on and on.

So why upcycle?

Upcycling keeps humans from creating MORE items that would eventually end up in the landfill.  If you make or buy an upcycled doll, a brand new unused doll doesn't have to be created to fill the need for a child's toy.

In this way, upcycling moves resources back UP the supply chain.

I could bore you with article upon article about how long it takes for certain materials to degrade and how the chemicals we have used since WWII are poisoning our water, earth, and air. But you all know that.

So instead of thinking about how you can "Save the Earth" by upcycling, think about how you can teach your children to save money, how you can create an ethic of wise moderation in your children, by showing them how to upcycle their clothes and toys.

And the best thing is . . . it FEELS good!

Taking the face off of an old doll, sanitizing and repainting it, creating new clothes and shoes, giving it a new hairstyle... these things bring me great satisfaction.

In the end, each doll I sell saves a doll from the landfill. 

In the end, each doll my clients buy keeps another plastic doll from being created.

It's a win-win situation, one I love being a part of.

Do you upcycle items at home?

What are some reasons you can think of to upcycle?

Oh yeah, and then there's this reason: