Neuigkeiten rund ums Einlagern

21.05.2021

Upcycling – Give the old items a new life

It doesn’t always have to be new. With a little manual skill, a little paint and a few brush strokes as well as a few other handicraft utensils, new and unique pieces can be created from unpopular and no longer used pieces of furniture. Be creative and show your fellow human beings that not everything has to be thrown away. The environment will thank you.

What is upcycling actually?

You are probably familiar with the term recycling, right? In fact, by definition, upcycling is not all that dissimilar to recycling. The term upcycling is derived from the english words “up” and “recycling”.

With upcycling, unwanted and apparently no longer usable objects and products are transformed into something new and unique in no time with a little creativity and a little manual skill. There are no limits to creativity.

A very popular upcycling product, for example, is the well-known and often seen euro pallet. Originally made for the transport of large quantities, it is now used more and more often for the construction of unique pieces of furniture such as tables, beds, sofas, flower boxes and numerous other pieces of furniture.

But also from old clothes or glass bottles that are no longer used, great and decorative utensils can be created. With a few pricks of a needle, for example, we conjure up practical and plastic-free shopping bags from our old jeans and beautify our apartment with unused glass bottles and small fairy lights to create a romantic sea of lights.

Upcycling is a good opportunity for creative people in particular to let their creativity run free, let off steam, create new unique pieces and at the same time do something good for the world. The use of materials that are extremely difficult to recycle makes particular sense here.

Why does upcycling even make sense?

Upcycling is particularly useful when our consumption and the throwaway society that prevails in our country can be reduced by reusing old materials. Because the longer a certain item remains in our possession and we can continue to use it, the less likely it is that we will buy something new.

At the end of the day, if we were to buy every piece of furniture, accessory or decorative item we liked, it would be highly resource-intensive and wasteful of raw materials. Therefore, upcycling not only helps to save money, but also to waste fewer resources and do good for our environment and our lives.

Upcycling does not make the global waste problem any smaller, but people are increasingly made aware of it and sensitized to better use of our resources.

All benefits at a glance

Through upcycling, we act in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. Substances that are particularly difficult to recycle are reused in this way and do not have to be disposed of, which is costly and resource-intensive.
By recycling old and no longer used materials, we save resources and contribute to our well-being.
Old and unsightly objects are given a new lease of life with a few simple steps and become unaffordable unique items.
Joint family projects promote relationships and cohesion between individuals.
The money savings are enormous, especially students and people with a small income design their own and priceless unique pieces.
Through upcycling, we sharpen our view of our environmental situation and sensitize each other to a better way of dealing with nature and the remaining raw materials.
By creating unique pieces of furniture, our own creations and accessories, we develop a special bond with the newly created object and deal intensively with its production.
Particularly creative people can use their manual skills and eye for detail to build up a second mainstay and earn additional money with their individually created individual pieces.

Where can easy and great upcycling ideas be found?

You can certainly find most of the ideas made available online on common social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and the like. Pinterest is also a great helper. With this type of search engine for images, you will find numerous ideas that are easy to implement at home.

Two great upcycling ideas

So that you can start with the implementation right away, we have put together two simple and unique upcycling ideas for you here.

Idea: Decorative table lamp

Required material:

A glass bottle with a screw cap
A battery or electric powered string of lights
Decorative craft supplies
Tools

Work to be done:

Wash the glass bottle properly and dry it sufficiently.
Drill a hole in the lid with a drill and pull the chain of lights through to the socket connection.
Distribute the chain of lights evenly inside the glass and decorate the outside of the bottle with decorative motifs.
Screw the lid onto the bottle and finally connect the chain of lights to the socket.
The light-giving table lamp is ready

Idea: Wall wardrobe

Required material:

A 2cm thick wooden board
5x wooden hangers
A circular or wood saw
10x min. 40mm long pointed screws

Work to be done:

First, mark a line 5cm from the center of all five hangers
With a small circular saw, separate the hanger at the marked point (IMPORTANT: the hook stays on, this will later be converted into a coat hook).
Then draw two superimposed drill holes on the board for the coat hanger attachment.
Now the hangers are attached and the new wall wardrobe is ready.

Optionally, you can decorate the board with beautiful ornaments.

The implementation is waiting

Last but not least, we should now simply start with the implementation and let our creativity run free. We wish you lots of fun and successful projects.

zurück zur Übersicht