Upcycling is giving new life and purpose to old or unwanted household items you have at home. It can be as simple as repurposing a coffee mug into a toothbrush holder, a wooden stool into an end table, or cardboard packaging into arts and crafts.
Not only will it save you money from having to buy new things — which, if truth be told, may end up being redundant — you will do your part in protecting our planet by reducing waste at the same time!
Upcycling is not hard to do, it is simply a habit that needs to be cultivated.
Upcycling To Reduce Waste
Upcycling comes easy to retiree Cecilia Tsong, 68, as she regularly collects recyclable materials from her home and deposits them into recycling bins or at recycling collection points.
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Thus Cecilia makes it a point to reduce waste (especially plastic) by finding new uses for materials that come with the things she buys.
Image courtesy of Cecilia Tsong
Other upcycling Cecilia does is reusing elastic loops in face masks as strings or rubber bands for tying bags, and repurposing all forms of ziploc bags used for packaging as gift bags.
As for household items that she cannot upcycle, Cecilia will deposit them at a recycling collection point every month.
"Then I discovered recyclopedia.sg, a (recycling reference) site that tells you what items you can recycle, where you can bring it to, and who are the people running it."
That was how Cecilia learnt about Tzu Chi Foundation (Singapore), an international humanitarian and non-governmental organisation which sets up some 30 recycling collection points across Singapore every third Sunday of the month.
Upcycling For Creativity
For Wendy Lim, who is in her 70s, upcycling by recreating used and unused household items into fun and decorative items became a hobby for her just a few years ago.
It came about when the retiree was looking for things to do at home to pass her time.
She started by altering clothes for family and friends so that they can reuse their clothes instead of “throwing them away just because they can’t fit anymore!”
Then thanks to YouTube, Wendy learnt how to repurpose redundant or unused items such as plastic bags, ang baos and face towels into new reusable things like household decorations and gift items.
This includes making Lunar New Year decorations out of ang baos, ornamental flowers out of coloured plastic bags, and teddy-bear-shaped gifts out of washcloths!
Image courtesy of Marguerita Tan
In the past two years, the former administrator has been conducting regular craft workshops at active ageing centres in Dover Close East and Margaret Drive to share her creative upcycling knowledge with fellow seniors and residents.
The workshops usually have about 10 to 20 seniors who are encouraged to collect and bring their own recycled materials.
Wendy though does not regard herself as an instructor as “everything I know, I learnt from YouTube!” she says with a laugh.
She is just happy that she could share her fun upcycling ideas with other seniors, especially the non-working ones, so that they can also have something fun to do at home to pass time.
Upcycling To Save Money
As for this writer, I recycle whatever I can (plastic/glass/paper) but I especially love to reuse packaging or repurpose leftover parts from household products if they are in good condition.
Primarily so that I can save on buying new specific-purpose products because, even though they may be better looking aesthetically, these are costs you can save to spend on more important stuff (like food and entertainment).
For instance, I will repurpose plastic drink bottles to store drinking water or cut one up strategically to store dried pasta. (I am also mindful to replace these frequently to avoid plastic contamination.)
By punching a hole in the cap, I convert small plastic bottles into “watering cans” for my balcony plants.
Images courtesy of Marguerita Tan
Unspoiled plastic food containers are washed thoroughly and reused to keep other dried food items such as flour and sugar.
One cool thing I learnt from YouTube is using coloured bread tags as label tags for the gazillion wires running behind my computer, TV and Wi-Fi routers.
Images courtesy of Marguerita Tan
To keep long thick wires neatly rolled up—from standing fans to extension cords—I tuck them into a toilet roll tube (decorated with wrapping paper to make it look presentable).
My favourite use of toilet roll tubes though is turning them into cool anime or movie character figures by printing images of characters from Star Wars or Spy x Family and pasting them onto the tubes.
Miles cheaper than buying official (and expensive) action figures, I assure you!
10 Other Upcycling Hacks To Turn Your Waste Into Items Of Worth
Image courtesy of Marguerita Tan
The upcycling ideas mentioned above are but some that can be done without much effort.
Here are 10 other upcycling hacks for you to consider if you’d like to start your own upcycling journey:
- Coffee stickpick or cereal sachets: This requires some work but you can actually turn these sachet packaging into functional tote bags and coasters, just to name a few. There are loads of YouTube videos that can show you how.
- Scarves: If they are clean and unused, you use them as gift wraps.
- Glass bottles/thermos flasks: Repurpose these as flower vases, watering “cans” or to store leftover liquids.
- Glass candle jars: Wash cleanly and reuse them to store items such as jewellery, coins or paper clips.
- Wooden/glass bowls: Alternative uses for these are as holders for jewellery/potpourri/keys, or as an ice bucket or gift basket.
- Tee shirts: If you are good with needle and thread (or sewing machine), you can convert unused tops into carrier bags or durable chew toys.
- Long sleeves shirts: Cut from old/unused shirt, elastic gathered or sew a ribbon handle at the shoulder end, and you have a quaint plastic bag holder.
- Cardboard boxes: Depending on size and hardiness, you can turn these into makeshift desks or shelves, cat tower or dog bed, storage organisers, or to create arts & crafts for yourself or grandchildren.
- Tin cans: Rinse clean, file sharp edges, decorate them with wrapping paper and use them as little containers or holders.
- Books (preferably hardcover): Stack a stack of old books at a corner, put a steady table top or just a tablecloth over them, and you have a side table or shelf.
