Upcycling is the process of getting a second or third use of an item. Instead of throwing your tin can into the garbage you might use it as a pencil holder for example.
The general notion of upcycling however often gets overlooked. While the recycling process for a tin can might work pretty well in some countries, it still consumes a lot of energy to do so.
This leads to situations in the so called cyclic economy, that the process of recycling goods can be more energy intensive than actually producing a new unit of the same sort.
Upcycling usually does not prevent an item from arriving in a recycling facility eventually but instead puts the recycling date further into the future.
The hope lies within, that in the upcoming years, energy and the recycling process is greener, cheaper and more efficient.
Although current renewables become ever cheaper, it is still debatable whether it will ever be cheaper than nuclear power sources for example.
and
https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/electric-generating-costs-a-primer).
If the energy gets more scarce usually the price rises and this is a very real concern as there are limits on how much solar panels, batteries, wind turbines etc. you can build and the energy consumption is rising with break neck speed.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption)
Critics often point out that there is a limit on how much energy we will use, but while this limit might not be too far away from its current state in the developed world, the developing world still has enormous hunger for cheap energy.
Forecasts see a growth of 48% for energy consumption from 2012 to 2040 for the developing countries as their living standards improve.
(https://www.coloradocountrylife.coop/developing-countries-standard-of-living-increasing-energy-use/)
Therefore it seems unlikely that the global energy consumption will decrease in the future.
As a result it is not a safe bet to assume that energy will be cheaper and greener, since the fastest growing energy sectors were coal, gas and oil. Combined with the fact that those sources become ever more scarce, they will hardly get less pricey either.
So it could actually be better to recycle now, than later.
However there are products that do not need a recycling or upcycling process at all, as they dissolve over time in nature. No more energy is needed to get rid of them as they just disappear after their usage.
Insect hotels and birdhouses are good examples, as they just decay over time and furthermore are produced mostly of compostable material that one finds in great abundance anyways, such as stone or wood.
An extreme example although not as uncontroversial are old ships, which sometimes get disposed of in the ocean, where they serve as a new riff on the ground, becoming a new home for a wide variety of animals, plants and microorganisms.
Sadly products which fulfill the criteria of full biodegradability are rare and sometimes it doesn’t make sense to do so.
Even better than creating various things out fo the old stuff however, is to keep things in their original use for as long as possible, such as clothes.
Not every bit of “trash” needs upcycling.
A second hand shop can be an alternative.
Trying to avoid garbage in general and thinking twice whether an item really is needed still is the most powerful tool in order to fight the devastating effects of our lifestyle.
Resource consumption after all, is the hands of all of us.
