Fun Upcycling Projects

Recently, a reader asked me to talk about "upcycling." For those of you that don't know, upcycling means taking your used or worn out items and turning them into something else that's useful, ideally of even better quality and higher environmental value (and hopefully cute, clever and practical). To me, upcycling is like re-purposing, which I talk about in a previous blog post Reduce & Reuse- Even More than Recycle, and it means finding ways to create a usable item out of something after its initial intended purpose has worn out- and before it hits the recycling bin- which we now know often ends up getting shipped to China- eek! (see earlier blog post)

You've already seen the practice of turning plastic water bottles into reusable shopping bags- here's a great, inexpensive one on reuseit.com - but I wanted to find some ideas closer to home and inspire you to try some fun upcycling projects on you own.

Check out these 6 upcycling projects from Sustainablog.org. Granted some of these might not be your idea of "fun" so you can always try a few of these (easier!) ideas from this list at Ecosalon.com.

And don't forget about the limitless ways of upcycling used clothing! Try Threadbanger.com for great ideas; I once used a pattern on their site to create a reversible dog carrying bag for my 10 lbs dog, Trixie, out of my grandmother's old polyester pants.

But my favorite example of upcycling used clothing is New Dress A Day, about a blogger who vows to upcycle one new outfit a day for 365 days for only $365- and she manages to look cute while doing it! Think of all the pollution, waste and money she saved that year by upcycling; nothing more was wasted on shipping from China, or chemicals from new leather, or inflated department store prices.

Here are even more ideas to get you upcycling. Be sure to share you ideas with me and leave comments about on the ones you've tried! Whether you're a tech nerd, a mommy, a grandmommy or just a pet's mommy- there is something you can upcycle.

• UPcycle Tee Shirts to Toddler size
• Upcyled Pet Projects
  
• 100 Upcycling Projects
• 20 Wood Pallet Upcyling Projects (I'd rate these amazing, but advanced)
• Easy Upcycled Coasters