Nature operates on the principles of zero waste. Trees make flowers and fruit for germinate and grow. Excess of flowers and fruits are consumed by other species. They fall on ground, decompose, feed various organisms and microorganisms and enrich the soil. all other species, except plant, exhale carbon dioxide, which plants takes in and use for their own growth and releases oxygen for our survival. Nitrogen from the waste is transformed into protein by microorganisms, animals and plants. The Earth's major nutrients - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen - are cycled and recycled. This cyclic flow of materials, from cradle - to - cradle, has nourished our planet for millions of years. This material flow can be termed as Biological cycle. Then came industries, which altered the natural equilibrium of materials on the planet. we took substance from the Earth's crust and concentrated, altered and synthesized them into vast quantities of materials that cannot safely be returned to soil and its original biological cycle. This material flow is termed as Industrial cycle.
Recycling is a process to change materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower gas emissions as compared to plastic production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and waste management and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" waste hierarchy.
A better practice is to take an used item and aim it for REUSE, returning it back to the cycle of daily contribution to society rather than discarding it to trash. This helps in exploring full potential of material for various uses before it is being discarded due to its inability to fulfill one single function.
UP - CYCLE
Upcycling is the continuous process of returning back the used materials into original raw form without degrading its quality in order to maintain its position in production cycle, which henceforth avoid entry of new raw materials. This helps in reduction of consumption of new raw materials for new products. This reduction directly results in reduction of energy of production of new materials, and hence reduction in air, water and environmental pollution as a whole. Upcycling becomes very important. First, the practice reduces the amount of waste that we produce and ultimately goes into the ground for longer than any of us will be around. Secondly, it also reduces the need for new virgin material to be harvested as feed stock for new generations of product. In the case of plastic, this means less oil wells drilled. For metals, less mountains mined. For paper, less trees felled. All around this means less expended energy. The goal of upcycling is to prevent wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones.
Aluminium Can: Recycling of aluminium cans are in fact upcycling. These aluminium containers can be melted down and made into brand new cans and in the process save over 90% of the energy required to make new ones from scratch. This cycle can continue in perpetuity, reducing energy consumption and effectively removing certain materials from the waste stream.
Upcycling of any material/product can be decided right at designing phase of that material. Today's industry is designed in a way to discard the product rather than upcycling them. Which means that each and every product that is being designed should be multifunctional rather than single function. Simple example is, if you move from IPhone 4/4s to IPhone 5/5c/5s you are forced to buy its charger only because the size/design of the junction is changed.Processes like making wallets from tires, or lawn chairs from pallets, or tables from wire spools are NOT 'upcycling' process. These are examples of reusing. None of those materials are going back UP the production cycle (the series of processes that an industry uses to create a product or service.) They are just making the chain a bit longer.
DOWN - CYCLE
Downcycling is the process of converting used materials/products into new materials/products of lesser quality and reduced functionality. Downcycling aims to prevent wasting potentially useful materials, reduce consumption of fresh raw materials, energy usage, air pollution and water pollution. Its goals are also lowering greenhouse gas emissions (though re-use of tainted toxic chemicals for other purposes can have the opposite effect) as compared to virgin production
A better practice is to take an used item and aim it for REUSE, returning it back to the cycle of daily contribution to society rather than discarding it to trash. This helps in exploring full potential of material for various uses before it is being discarded due to its inability to fulfill one single function.
UP - CYCLE
Upcycling is the continuous process of returning back the used materials into original raw form without degrading its quality in order to maintain its position in production cycle, which henceforth avoid entry of new raw materials. This helps in reduction of consumption of new raw materials for new products. This reduction directly results in reduction of energy of production of new materials, and hence reduction in air, water and environmental pollution as a whole. Upcycling becomes very important. First, the practice reduces the amount of waste that we produce and ultimately goes into the ground for longer than any of us will be around. Secondly, it also reduces the need for new virgin material to be harvested as feed stock for new generations of product. In the case of plastic, this means less oil wells drilled. For metals, less mountains mined. For paper, less trees felled. All around this means less expended energy. The goal of upcycling is to prevent wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones.
Aluminium Can: Recycling of aluminium cans are in fact upcycling. These aluminium containers can be melted down and made into brand new cans and in the process save over 90% of the energy required to make new ones from scratch. This cycle can continue in perpetuity, reducing energy consumption and effectively removing certain materials from the waste stream.
Upcycling of any material/product can be decided right at designing phase of that material. Today's industry is designed in a way to discard the product rather than upcycling them. Which means that each and every product that is being designed should be multifunctional rather than single function. Simple example is, if you move from IPhone 4/4s to IPhone 5/5c/5s you are forced to buy its charger only because the size/design of the junction is changed.Processes like making wallets from tires, or lawn chairs from pallets, or tables from wire spools are NOT 'upcycling' process. These are examples of reusing. None of those materials are going back UP the production cycle (the series of processes that an industry uses to create a product or service.) They are just making the chain a bit longer.
DOWN - CYCLE
Downcycling is the process of converting used materials/products into new materials/products of lesser quality and reduced functionality. Downcycling aims to prevent wasting potentially useful materials, reduce consumption of fresh raw materials, energy usage, air pollution and water pollution. Its goals are also lowering greenhouse gas emissions (though re-use of tainted toxic chemicals for other purposes can have the opposite effect) as compared to virgin production
Reference:
1. "Biological and technical nutrients (C2C)" by Zhiying.lim - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biological_and_technical_nutrients_(C2C).jpg#/media/File:Biological_and_technical_nutrients_(C2C).jpg
1. "Biological and technical nutrients (C2C)" by Zhiying.lim - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biological_and_technical_nutrients_(C2C).jpg#/media/File:Biological_and_technical_nutrients_(C2C).jpg