A Review on Upcycling: Current Body of Literature, Knowledge Gaps and a Way Forward

Kyungeun Sung Sustainable Consumption Research Group School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Table of contents

. Introduction

. Method

. Results

. Discussion and conclusion

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Introduction

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Industrial Upcycling as Improvement of Existing Businesses

Towards eco-efficiency + eco-effectiveness (McDonough and Braungart, 2009)

Cradle to Cradle Principles: . Material health: Value materials as nutrients for safe, continuous cycling . Material reutilization: Maintain continuous flows of biological and technical nutrients McDonough, . Renewable energy William, and Michael Braungart. . Water stewardship Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way Source: www.mbdc.com (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry) we make things. . Social fairness MacMillan, 2009.

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Industrial Upcycling as a New Business

Part of waste management strategy and for sustainable production (Szaky, 2014)

Tom Szaky. Outsmart waste: Source: http://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/ The modern idea of garbage and how to think our way out of it. Berrett-Koehler Source: http://www.freitag.ch/ Publishers, 2014

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Individual Upcycling as a Lifestyle

A lifestyle of reduction and towards sustainable consumption (Frank, 2013)

Cristin Frank. Living simple, free & happy: How to simplify, declutter your home, reduce stress, debt & waste. Betterway Books, 2013

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Growing Publications in Upcycling Google Books search: . “upcycle” OR “upcycling” . About 9,290 pages with overlapping and irrelevant search items . After page 31, hardly any relevant books found  search stop . 120 out of 310 books were identified as relevant . 96% (n=115) published between 2008 and 2014

A number of the searched books per year between 1999 and 2015 . 62.5% (75) published (from Google Books search conducted in September, 2014 by the author) between 2012 and 2014

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Growing Publications in Upcycling

Google Scholar theses search: . [“upcycle” OR “upcycling”] AND [“dissertation” OR “thesis”] . About 423 pages with overlapping and irrelevant search items . After page 25, hardly any relevant books found  search stop . 41 documents are relevant based on abstracts . A number of the searched theses per year between 2001 and 2014 90% (37/41) published between (from the theses search on Google Scholar conducted in September, 2014 by the author) 2009 and 2014 Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Aim of the Paper

. Rising interest in upcycling manifested by industrial interest + increased publication levels . But no major academic review

 this paper analyses and summarises the current body of literature on upcycling, focusing on:  different definitions  trends in practice  benefits  drawbacks and barriers

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Method

Following the concept and systemic approach of literature review (Fink, 2014)

1. Select research questions 2. Select bibliographic databases 3. Apply practical screening criteria including search terms 4. Do the review and synthesise the results Source: Arlene Fink. Conducting research literature reviews. Sage, 2014

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Step1: Select research questions

1. What has been the trend in upcycling publication over time? 2. What is the definition of upcycling? 3. What are the trends in practices? 4. What are the known benefits, drawbacks and barriers?

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Step2: Select bibliographic databases

Acknowledging the relative newness of the term, upcycling, a wide range of major digital academic databases were selected: . Elsevier . Scopus . Emerald . Springer . Google Scholar . Taylor & Francis . IEEE . Web of Science . Metapress . Wiley

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Step3: Apply practical screening criteria including search terms

1. Search keyword: “upcycle” or “upcycling” 2. Only English publications 3. Including: journal articles, conference proceedings, academic books and book chapters, research institute reports 4. Excluding: theses, book reviews, editorials, working papers, self-published books and practical books

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Step4: Review and synthesise the results

1. Search in July, 2014 2. 297 items dating from 1994 to 2014 with overlapping results 3. Removed duplicate results 4. Assessed content relevance by reading abstracts 5. 47 relevant pieces of literature 6. Added 8 highly relevant materials 7. 55 (=n) relevant publications used for descriptive analysis and synthesis

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Results: Descriptive Analysis

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Descriptive analysis: Trends in Upcycling Publication Cumulative frequency of the number of the sampled publications

. N=55 . 26 journal articles . 11 conference proceedings . 9 book chapters . 5 books . 3 periodicals . 1 report . Steady growth between 1994 and 2007 . Rapid growth since 2008 (from the literature search conducted in July, 2014)

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Descriptive analysis: Trends in Upcycling Publication Approaches adopted in the sampled publications

. Conceptual papers or books (36%; n=20) . Case studies (21%; 12) . Experimental studies (16%; 9) . Literature review and document analysis (13%; 7)

(from the literature search conducted in July, 2014)

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Descriptive analysis: Trends in Upcycling Publication Subject areas of the sampled publications

. Engineering and technology (40%; n=22) . Design (31%; 17) . Business (16%; 9)

(from the literature search conducted in July, 2014)

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Descriptive analysis: Trends in Upcycling Publication Sampled publications distribution by industrial (sub)/sector

. Unspecified (29%; 16) . Fashion and textiles (25%; n=14) . Plastics recycling (16%; 9) . Construction (7%; 4) . Organic waste treatment (5%; 3)

(from the literature search conducted in July, 2014)

. USA, UK and Germany take the lead as single countries . North America (USA only 44%) and Europe (42%) are the main publication regions. . Asia (11%) and Pacific Islands (3%) minor roles in publication

(from the literature search conducted in July, 2014)

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Results: Synthesis of the results

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Synthesis of the results: 1. Definitions of Upcycling Two most frequently cited definitions

1. First recorded use of the term, upcycling: “Recycling, I call it down-cycling. They smash bricks, they smash everything. What we need is upcycling, where old products are given more value, not less.” (Pilz, 1994) 2. More popularized used of the term since McDonough and Braungart: “A technical nutrient is a material or product that is designed to go back in to the technical cycle, into the industrial metabolism from which it came. […] Isolating them from biological nutrients allows them to be upcycled rather than recycled – to retain their high quality in a closed-loop industrial cycle” (McDonough and Braungart, 2002)

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Synthesis of the results: 1. Definitions of Upcycling Two dominant viewpoints in the sampled publications

1. Material recovery of which the major aim is to maintain value and quality of materials safely in their second life and beyond by the improved recycling or remanufacturing 2. Product (re)creation for higher values and qualities by transforming, repurposing, or refashioning waste or used materials/products either by companies or by individuals (30 with explicit definitions or descriptive statements; 19 implying the meaning within the context)

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Synthesis of the results: 2. Trends in Upcycling Practices

1. Practices in material recovery emphasise the importance of initial design and process innovation in companies for higher upcyclability and safety. 2. Practices in product (re)creation with used materials at the individual level claimed to be deep-rooted collective human behaviours. 3. The commercial perspective of product (re)creation with used materials recently acknowledged and known scope of new products by upcycling is broad despite the questionable market potential of most of these product categories.

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Synthesis of the results: 3. Benefits of Upcycling

Environmental benefits Economic benefits Social benefits 1. Solid waste reduction Cost savings and new 1. Poverty alleviation in and prevention profit opportunities for developing countries 2. Landfill space saving . Manufacturers 3. Raw materials use . Entrepreneurs 2. Psychological well- reduction . Consumers being and socio- 4. Energy use reduction cultural benefits in 5. Greenhouse gas developed countries emission reduction

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Synthesis of the results: 4. Drawbacks and Barriers of Upcycling

Many and varied, depending on the level of the upcycling (industrial vs. individual), types of industry, and contextual situations (e.g. market dynamics, regulations and policies, socio-cultural background, etc.)

For industrial upcycling For individuals (consumers, makers, entrepreneurs, etc.) For example: For example: 1. Possible trade-offs (e.g. 1. Relatively low-volume solution for waste durability/reliability vs. how easy to reduction/prevention disassemble) 2. Small current market size 2. Immature upcycling streams 3. Niche status of upcycled products 3. Inefficiencies in collecting, cleaning, 4. Limited number of consumers who are willing to sorting, homogenising separate and clean waste for upcycling purposes 4. Low awareness and knowledge level

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Discussions & Conclusion

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Future research areas

1. Comparative study to clarify the fundamental differences/similarities between upcycling and other similar constructs 2. Case studies of real-life industrial practices in material recovery 3. Historical study on individual upcycling as deep-rooted collective human behaviours 4. Research into potential of households as a group of sustainable producers and consumers based on individual upcycling 5. Feasibility and marketability studies focusing on specific industry and product category 6. … 10. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Limitations

1. A search results discrepancy on half of the databases: Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, Elsevier and Emerald (case sensitive) 2. Keyword-based identification  excluding similar concepts with different terms such as Cradle to Cradle or Circular Economy

 Cannot claim that the findings can be generalised beyond the reviewed literature body

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Contributions

. A generic understanding of the neologism, upcycling, and how it has been understood and practiced . A number of unexplored avenues worth investigating

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Thank you! Any question?

Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment