Upcycling

What is upcycling?

Upcycling, sometimes also called "creative reuse" or "value-added recycling," is, as the name implies, a type of recycling that allows us to give a second life to a variety of materials.

When we upcycle, we recover matter or materials that are no longer useful or usable in their current form and transform them to save them from the trash. The important aspect here is this transformation, which allows us to infuse them with added value and restore them to a new or greater utility.

For example, some of you may have already poked holes in a cardboard box to turn it into a toy for your cat. Technically, that is upcycling! You took an object that was no longer useful in its first form (a box to protect your purchases during transport), transformed it (put holes in it), which gave it a new utility (a cat toy).

It is therefore possible to upcycle individually, but this is not a practice exclusively reserved for the domestic sphere. Small local businesses have even developed their creative models around upcycling.

Upcycling flowers: Création Elmajistas

Marie, the human behind Création Elmajistas, uses upcycled dried flowers in her handmade accessories at her Montreal workshop.

She recovers flowers that, after being appreciated for their beauty and fragrance when fresh, would otherwise end up in the trash. She dries and prepares them to preserve their beauty, then integrates them into accessories, such as hair clips and many others.

https://arloca.com/products/barrettes-en-fleurs-sechees-surcyclees 

All the flowers she uses follow this life cycle, thus embedding her in circular economy and eco-responsible practices.

Upcycling fabrics: Création Nathalie
Based in St-Pascal in the Kamouraska region, Les Créations de Nathalie et cie upcycles fabrics in the making of its various bags.

https://arloca.com/products/sac-a-dos-transformable

https://arloca.com/products/petit-sac-avec-rabat-en-cuir

She uses scraps discarded by companies in her region to give them a second life. These can include fabrics, leathers and faux leathers, and even pallets.

“Creation, recovery, revaluation, and crafting” are the key words that guide this small business, which therefore participates in an industrial (and eco-responsible) symbiosis in Kamouraska.

Upcycling leather: Chikiboom
Félix, the creator behind Chikiboom, produces a variety of upcycled leather accessories, including watches and earrings.

https://arloca.com/products/montre-grand-cadran 

https://arloca.com/products/boucles-doreilles-editions-montreal 

All the leather used in her handmade creations comes from a variety of suppliers who would otherwise have thrown it away. She therefore gives a second life to these scraps of leather, even when they are very small.

This is one aspect of her business that fits into her heightened concern for ecology and the revaluation of materials.

Upcycling is therefore an ecological practice that allows us to revalue materials and reduce our waste. It is something we can do at home, but we are lucky enough to also have access to local businesses that engage in this practice. Création Elmajistas, Les Créations de Nathalie et cie, and Chikiboom are some (very good) examples.