Upcycling (also known as supra-recycling) refers to the technique that uses recycled materials to transform them into new products, giving them a greater value than they had when they were just waste. This makes the key difference with the downcycling, in which the resulting product is of lower quality than the original.
The importance of recycling is having an impact on companies, which are increasingly aware of it.
Upcycling is more than a technique, it is a necessary trend. The companies They must know that times have changed, and the transformation needs to create their products or services must be updated. In this way, products that require new raw materials are prevented from using these types of elements in excess.
The use of upcycling shows the unnecessary need to obtain raw materials to obtain new products or services, being those replaced by recycled materials. The impact that this would have on the company's strategy is very high. Consumers are aware of this and express a positive attitude towards these practices that benefit the environmental and social well-being.
However, one of the best known forms of upcycling is artistic upcycling, in which used products are used to give them a new value or new functionality. There are many products that can be used instead of a new one, depending on the raw material that is used or the different functionalities that you want to provide.
Some examples of artistic upcycling use materials that are very likely to be recycled such as plastic, metal or glass. Thus, there are many stakeholders who get ideas in their own homes to recycle with glass, for example, creating a lamp using this material. Also as an example, some companies like Pringles suggested to their consumers to use their potato containers as a sound amplifier for their mobile or cell phone.