I’ve been reading alot lately about Recycling because my neighbourhood wants to go “green” etc. Lately Upcycling has also been mentioned alot and i know that Upcycling is more of a direct process than Recycling since i can just do upcycling from home. But which one’s actually better for the environment? Sorry, i hope my question is somewhat clear!
Thank you guys
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Neither is really better or worse, mostly because “upcycling” is not a clearly defined term. It refers simply to reusing unwanted/discarded/junk materials of any type to create an object of higher value or quality than the individual materials. So, it could be as simple as taking something like an old tired (worthless junk) and turning it into a tire swing that will entertain loads of kids at the local playground. Or, it could be taking 500 little pieces of scrap metal, using a lot of energy to clean them, polish them, shape them, cut them, and weld them all together to create a beautiful piece of art. Sure it’s still reusing junk materials and turning them into something of greater value, but all of that energy used is bad for the environment, and the piece of art does nothing to improve the environment.
Recycling can also be potentially bad for the environment, at least in some ways. For example, if you use a bunch of big, diesel-burning trucks to collect some plastic bottles, then use a lot of energy to melt the bottles down and create something else from them, it may not really be better for the environment, or it might be worse in the short-term but better in the long, term, etc.
So, ultimately, it really comes down to what you recycle/upcycle, and how you do it.
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