Upcycling vs Recycling: creative reuse at the service of sustainability

Sustainability, reuse, circular economy are terms that have now entered everyone's vocabulary. But there is one word in this area that perhaps not everyone is familiar with. It is used to describe a practice that aims to set a new standard in the way we perceive raw and used materials: upcycling.

Let's start with the basics: what is recycling?

Recycling is a fundamental practice that reduces the amount of waste and makes the best use of natural resources by following an established process in which waste materials are collected, processed and reused to create new products. However, recycling has its limitations. The transformation process may result in a loss of material quality, and in some cases, recycled products may have a shorter life cycle than their non-recycled counterparts.

What is upcycling?

Upcycling is more related to creativity and innovation. In fact, instead of simply recycling materials, upcycling transforms them into products of higher value often without the degradation process that can occur in traditional recycling. It is therefore a process that gives new life to objects and materials, transforming them into something new, useful and often unique.