Meaning

(transitive) To convert (waste materials, etc.) into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To convert (waste materials, etc.) into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality.
2. (transitive) To promote into a more productive or useful role.
3. A period of a cycle where something is increasing or improving.

Example Sentences

Recycling in many cases means "downcycling" – in particular cases, however, it can also mean "upcycling".

As I child I made thins from "nothing." If I didn't have any store-bought materials, I would go to my closet and cut up my least favorite article of clothing and make something new with it. It just made sense to use, reuse, upcycle and make things from scratch.

For Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle, which collects used plastic bags, juice pouches, cookie wrappers and other items that cannot be recycled and ‘upcycles’ or morphs them into items such as messenger bags, tote bags, and pencil cases, trash is a raw material and the key to a multimillion-dollar, ecocapitalist (ad)venture[…].

[…] PFNC takes empty shipping containers that are too expensive to recycle or ship back empty to China and converts them into affordable, stackable homes for Mexican workers. […] PFNC makes enough money to continue upcycling shipping containers costs and to invest for future growth.

Electronic waste—or ewaste—has provided a business opportunity for certain companies, which disassemble old computers, monitors, fax machines, printers, and other electronic equipment that they obtain from businesses and individuals[…]. These ecycling businesses reclaim the glass from monitors, plastics from casings, and metal from wires and circuit boards and ship the components to manufacturers that upcycle the materials. (Upcycling is a type of recycling that takes discarded materials and makes a new product with a value higher than that of the original materials.)

Upcycling requires that innovation be integrated with sustainable product development. Several innovative products can be manufactured by upcycling the unrecyclable wastes, such as plastic rejects from municipal solid waste. Such products include bricks, interlocks, manhole covers, table toppings, and road ramps[…].

One designer I know was known for his vibrant use of color in his fashions. When he purchased a weekend home not too far from me, he had this crazy idea to paint the bark of the trees in different bright shades. […] To me, this wasn't upcycling the Great Outdoors, but more like upchucking on it.

Friday night's crowning victory at The Hawthorns was the 25th in 30 league matches since Antonio Conte's decisive re-gearing of his team in September, the tactical switches that have coaxed such a thrilling run from this team of bolt-ons and upcycled squad players, most notably Victor Moses, who was dredged out of the laundry bin in the autumn to become a key part of the title surge.

Word Forms

• upcycles
• upcycling
• upcycled
• up-cycle

Antonyms for upcycle

Related Words

When Should You Use Upcycle?

Use upcycle when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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