UPCYCLING – THE NEW TREND
Posted by Susan Pomerantz on 9/15/11 • Categorized as Repurposing, recycling, upcycling • • 
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We have all recycled, repurposed (see above), 
downsized, retrofitted, upsized and reused. Has anyone upcycled yet…do you know what it is?
So what’s upcycling? Well it is taking something that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something else.
The term came from and if it was possibly a little more complicated than repurposing things. So I started digging, and this is what I found out about upcycling
Upcycling is taking waste and making it into something that has equal or greater use or value. It is not the same as repurposing.
The term upcycling was first used by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. McDonough and Braungart compared upcycling to the “downcycling” of recycling a plastic, for example, into a lesser grade plastic. To put it simply, downcycling reduces the quality of the materials, while upcycling maintains or improves the quality of the materials. Are you confused yet
Smart entrepreneurs have built successful businesses on upcycling. Marty Stevens-Heebner founded Rebagz to make handbags out of juice packs and nylon rice sacks. Joey Santley and Steve Cox founded ReSurf.org to upcycle broken surfboards into asphalt filler.
On a smaller scale, many of the handmade items sold on Etsy.com are made with upcycled items (if you are not familiar with www.etsy.com, you should definately go there to see the ultimate combination of a American craft fair, a farmers market, a French flea market and a Moroccan souk).
Hipcycle is launching an ecommerce site in 10 short days. What we’ve done is teamed up with upcycling artisans to bring the average consumer price-competitive, durable, eco-friendly goods. Upcycling is what we’re about. http://hipcycle.com/2011/09/20/hipcycle-coming-soon/