Upcycling plays a very important role in society as it has various advantages such as being cost effective, environmentally friendly and provides truly unique furniture and statement pieces. But before we go on further, let’s clarify exactly what upcycling is! Upcycling is the process in which old products change into new and higher quality products. The product can be a waste material or anything which has no use to the owner any more. So isn’t it better to repurpose something to make it useful again rather than letting it go to waste?
In this world, where everything has advantages there also exist some disadvantages. It is better to Upcycle the products rather than throwing them away because it gives us several benefits.
Advantages of Upcycling
Unfortunately recycling is an expensive process which has to be ‘fine tuned’ to be as profitable as possible. So there are recycling options for numerous items where there is a vast quanity of them constantly being produced. But for that retro Laminex dining table, or the old vintage record plaer, or even just your pine bookshelf. Unfortunately when the fashion moves on, these items head to landfill as they are no longer ‘useful’ in their current form. Wouldn’t it be better for the environment and everyone jumped on board and tried to upcycle their current goods, rather than just replacing them!
Saves money
Upcycling is always a better option to save money as you don’t have to buy new material for your usage. Who else doesn’t want to save money? No one. Saving money and spending it on the right things at the right time has become very essential to have a healthy lifestyle. Upcycling projects will also keep you busy and stop you from buying more things, so it also has other indirect benefits to the environment. Check out this article for more advantages and disadvantages of Upcycling.
Healthy Environment
By Upcycling, we don’t have to waste materials like plastic, foil, and metal which can cause serious pollution in the environment. By burning this material, we can pollute our atmosphere and damage to the ozone layer all around the world. Polluted air is very dangerous for humans as it is the main reason for several diseases which can be very harmful to us. It can also help countries avoid filling up their landfills. Unfortunately landfill rubbish never goes away as it just does not provide the right conditions to decompose even compostable parts of your rubbish. Of course there are time where landfill is your only option, and you can use skip bins for bulk rubbish collection and you can learn more here.
Higher Quality Products
There is an upwards trend of Upcycling, because it does not only recycle the product but also make it of higher quality and better use. You could go to a generic commercial furniture store, and pay top dollar for the most fashionable items, only to find that all your friends have the same. OR, you could spend some time and money, sourcing amazing old pieces of furniture, restoring them and giving them new like, your own unique look. AND something you will never find in a superchain furniture store.
Can you imagine having a house where people walk in and their jaw drops? Well with a bit of effort and patience, this could be your dream home. And for relatively little cost!
Upcycling can create new products of higher quality so that you don’t have to wait to sell your old furniture and spend more money to purchase new products. Trends and designs change with time, so high-quality furniture is the basic need of modern and up-to-date life. If you upcycle, your furniture is truly unique so you step out of that cycle. Your furniture is not on trend, it is just truly fantastic and unique, so it actually can not go out of fashion – as it never was in fashion. Now don’t let that fool you, buying fashionable items is truly a curse. You are much more likely to experience dissatisfaction a few years down the track if you buy the most fashionable items. That is because you probably paids top dollar for it, only for it to be taken over by the next newest and greatest things that you now want for your own.
Disadvantage of Upcycling
Upcycling has several advantages but at the same time, it is not useful for people who have busy schedules.
We all don’t like to wait for a long as it is the nature of humans. Similarly, Upcycling is a time-consuming practice. It is not made for the people who don’t have time and are too much busy with their lives. It is a long process that requires your time and patience.
Final verdict
As a human, it’s our responsibility to keep our environment free of pollution. Upcycling can stop pollution because in this way we don’t need to burn the wastage or send it to landfill.