Upcycling

Welcome to the third post of the blog dedicated to green(er) makerspaces! Today I want to talk about upcycling. Upcycling is when you create "something new from discarded materials by repairing, refurbishing, or repurposing them." When upcycling, you are essentially adding value to a reused or repaired item's compositional elements (Lebby, 2021). Consider it a form of that second famous "R" (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle), "Reuse!" 

Upcycling Projects and Crafts:

Encourage the practice of upcycling in your makerspace by providing crafts and materials which once had other uses. These could be plastic, aluminum, or glass containers. They can be pieces of old clothing and other fabric-based objects. You can even upcycle waste from industrial production (Back et al, 2015)! 

Where to find stuff to reuse:

• Freecycle.org - A website dedicated to helping people find and give away free stuff, with the intention of keeping usable items out of landfills. 
• Facebook Marketplace - People are always posting free stuff on the Marketplace! Furniture included! Usually involves you picking the items up yourself, and is often first come, first serve.
• Yard sales, tag sales, garage sales, etc.
• Thrift shops

A few fun upcycle makerspace projects: 

Mittens from old sweaters:

Tutorial and free pattern at A Well Purposed Woman

Knit T-Shirt Produce Bag:

Tutorial at Delia Creates

Fused Plastic Bag:

Tutorial at Fast Made

Upcycled Seed Starter Pots:

List of tutorials available at DIYnCrafts

Upcycled Organization:

List of tutorials available at Curbly

Aluminum Can Jewelry:

Tutorial at Upcycled Design Lab

In conclusion...

Even when the materials you've acquired for your makerspace are free, it is probably a good idea to make sure your users are avoiding excessive waste. You might try to have your users practice some form of accountability. Encourage them to pre-plan projects, have them register to use tools and equipment, or limit access to the space to times when a staff member can be made available to monitor the room. Hopefully these ideas can help you get some projects off the ground. There is a lot of fun to be had with upcycling! It not only teaches users about how things can be reused, but they can also get some pretty great stuff out of these projects! 

Have fun!

References:

Back, G-S., Park, H. S., Seo, S. M., & Jung, W-G. (2015). Exploring high-strength glass-ceramic materials for upcycling of industrial wastes. Met. Mater. Int, 21, 1061–1067. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-015-5288-7 

Lebby, S. (2021). What is upcycling? Treehugger. https://www.treehugger.com/what-is-upcycling-5116081