Why are upcycling and recycling important?Updated 7 months ago

Recycling and upcycling are different processes. Recycling breaks down a material before creating a new product, for example, sheets of aluminum that are recycled and then eventually manufactured into aluminum cans. Upcycling skips the breakdown step, and simply converts an existing product into a new one–for instance, cutting up old air mattresses and stitching them into your favorite changing mat.

Both processes essentially convert old products into new ones, and both are extremely important. Manufacturers don’t always need to create new products from virgin materials, and instead can give old materials a second life. This creates a circular, “cradle-to-cradle” means of production as opposed to a linear, “cradle-to-grave” one.