If you’ve ever browsed crafts marketplace, Etsy, you’ve encountered the term “upcycled”.   Upcycling is a clever marketing term that people have invented to try to make their craft seem “green” or environmentally friendly.  In non-PC terms however, upcycling = “making crafts out of trash”.

I think Helen Killer of Regretsy (a fantastic site that snarks the worst of Etsy) expressed it the best.  One of her features was a clock that the seller “upcycled” from a “CD destined for the trash”.  Helen commented, “Oh you may have spray painted it green, but its destination hasn’t changed.”  I think that’s the essential problem with upcycling.  Most of the upcycling I’ve seen really hasn’t done much to make the item any less trash than it was.

Before anyone gets the idea that I’m anti-recycling, I want to point out that I have no problem with recycled materials.  I’ve seen some really great things made from recycled materials including new items knit from the frogged items, items sewn from old tablecloths, and so on.  I have a great deal of respect for using recycled materials.  The difference here, in my opinion, is that when artisans use recycled materials they’re taking an old item and stripping it down to its components and then making something entirely new and useful from it.  Most of the upcycling I’ve seen is, to be blunt, gilding a turd.  Sticking clock hands on a trashed CD doesn’t really do that much to improve the piece of trash.    I’ve even seen some great steam punk stuff made from old discards.  Again, I think the difference lies in how much additional work and modification went into it.  And I’d not that the steam punk artists don’t list their items as “upcycled”.  And often, it would hard to identify what the item was in its previous incarnation.  Most of the upcycled items are pretty easy to identify what trash they were made from.

So please, can we stop with the goofy pseudo-green, PC term “upcycling”.  If you’re going to make crafts from trash.  Go for it!  Just call it that.  And if you use recycled materials in new work, I’d love to see it labeled as “Recycled Materials”.  But “upcycling” is silly.