If you don’t know what upcycling is or how to upcycle, don’t miss these 6 examples of upcycling step by step. With them you will learn how to prolong the useful life of objects that you thought were no longer useful for anything or that aesthetically no longer look like they used to.
Upcycling or “supra-recycling” is one of the most creative and ingenious forms of recycling as it converts a used object that has lost its functionality into an improved one with a different use. In addition, from an ecological point of view, upcycling fulfills two of the three “R’s” of recycling (reduce, reuse, recycle):
- Contribute to reduce the consumption of new objects and also revalues them (hence the prefix «supra»).
- reuse discarded or obsolete objects giving them a different and even surprising use.
For these reasons, I encourage you to practice this form of recycling, inspiring yourself, for example, in one of these 6 upcycling ideas.
Upcycling wooden box in children’s shelf
Every year a lot of wooden gift boxes are made and end up in the trash. The wood with which these boxes are made is usually of poor quality and has imperfections, although they can be easily fixed with sandpaper and wood filler.
In this particular case, the wood was sanded and painted. In addition, the back was covered with cardboard with different motifs and a roof was created with the wood from the lid of the box. You will be able to see all the detailed step by step to turn a wooden box into a children’s bookcase in this link.
upcycling paper napkins
I love decoupage with napkins but to decorate with this technique you must discard the napkin leaves that are not printed. I usually reuse them by placing them in the napkin basket, but you can also add value as a decorative item.
For this you just have to reuse paper napkins as clothing of some wire ballerinas. You can see the video tutorial with the step by step in this link.
Upcycling fruit boxes
These two upcycling projects with fruit boxes are a clear example of revaluing an object. I found the fruit boxes that I used to make them in the garbage, in fact some of them were even moldy.
The first thing I did was clean them with bleach and sand them. Furthermore in the case of basket for balls I disassembled the entire box to adhere the wooden sheets to a can also recycled (you can see the whole step by step in this link).
Another option was turn a couple of fruit crates into a rolling shelf. For this I joined both boxes and painted them in different colors. The result, in addition to being practical, turned out to be enormously decorative (in this link you can see the whole step by step).
Upcycling corrugated cardboard
The corrugated cardboard is used as padding for furniture and also to protect it when it is sold disassembled. Normally this cardboard is deposited in paper recycling containers but, due to its resistance, it is useful for making shelves.
In this case I took advantage of them to make the shelves of this bookstore, after covering them with vinyl nobody imagined that they were made of cardboard. In this link you can see the step by step.
Upcycling glass cups
Sometimes the object has not lost its main function but is simply not used for various reasons (a gift that was not liked, a whim that was never used, a purchase by mistake…). The fact is that it ends up relegated to the bottom of a drawer or in the trash.
In these cases, upcycling can give you a more practical second chance, as is the case with these candle holders made with liquor glasses. You can see the step by step in this link.
Have you ever practiced upcycling? If not, I hope you have found inspiration in one of these 6 examples of upcycling and encourage you to carry them out. Not only will you contribute to responsible consumption but you will also put your creativity and ingenuity to the test to get an object much more valuable than the potty.
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