Corporate Social Responsibility Best Practices

The stuff things are made of
By Debra Kent Faulk
Published: April / May 2008

Despite the fact that creating, buying, and selling “earth friendly” products are now in vogue, the question still remains: Are these products really helping to minimize today’s environmental problems or are they merely a trendy option?

Let’s face it. We live in a culture of consumption, where buying (and selling) products to facilitate our lifestyle is a fact of life. And this “stuff” produces more waste in the production process and/or the after-effects.

Renewable resource

But there is an option that gives consumers the satisfaction of reusing something ultimately wasteful in a new and useful context. This relatively new option provides materials in abundance, oftentimes at no charge, and with no unhealthy (theoretically) after-effects for the earth.

It is called upcycling.

Upcycling is the idea of taking would-be garbage and reimagining, reusing, and reinventing its significance. Upcycling brings hope as a fresh concept and solution for the many environmental dilemmas we currently face.

By definition, upcycling takes something that is disposable and transforms it into something of greater use and value. It uses discarded objects as raw materials and directly adapts these objects to new uses without taking them back to the first stage in the chain of production. As a result, discarded products, defective components, and production remnants are transformed into marketable products.

For example:

• Building insulation made from rice husks formerly used for packing stereo components.

• CD covers made of used LP records.

• Designer handbags produced from discarded advertising banners.

• Flooring material of crushed aluminum cans.

• Chairs made of conveyer belt rubber mats.

• Coat racks from retro (Atari) joysticks.

• Salad bowls from the glass doors of old washing machines.

The term upcycling was coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. According to McDonough and Braungart, products of upcycling have a minimal amount of harmful byproducts, effectively working as a “cradle-to-cradle” model of production.

This is in stark opposition to the “cradle-to-grave” view of manufacturing conceived during the Industrial Revolution and still primarily in practice today. McDonough and Braungart say the cradle-to-grave model is one where resources are extracted, shaped into products, sold and eventually disposed of in a “grave” of some kind, usually a landfill or incinerator.

Take a fresh look

So what is all the fuss about upcycling? Isn’t it the same as recycling?

Recycled items are used for products that were never intended during their original production process, i.e. soda bottles into manufacturing of carpet. They are “wrestled” into a form requiring as much (or maybe more) energy to produce than manufacturing the product new. And in the end, that product is ultimately still on its way to a landfill, creating “eventual waste.” This, according to Cradle to Cradle is actually an example of “downcycling,” meaning unrecoverable and unusable by-products are created in the recycling process.

In a utopian world, it would not be enough to merely reprocess trash into new products; there would simply be no trash to repurpose. But we are living in the here and now and need to make our best effort to co-exist in harmony with our community and environment. It is incumbent upon all of us to think about the total life cycle of a product: consider how it was created and what can be done with it or where it will end up when it reaches the end of its useful life for the consumer.

While upcycling’s use of waste materials to provide useful products is a noble reinvestment in the environment, there are also the practices of recycling and conservation. All are key issues today and commendable practices.

Remember it’s a question of choices. In our day-to-day business, when presented with an opportunity to minimize the use of resources for maximum results, choose to take it — in some form or fashion.

upcycling is the practice of taking something wasteful and turning it into a more attractive and useful item.

Debra Kent Faulk is principal of DKF Connects, a socially conscious marketing services firm specializing in public relations, social marketing, and strategic partnerships. To contact Debra, call (813) 258-2599, e-mail debra@DKFconnects.com, or visit www.DKFconnects.com.

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