Upcycling as a Collective Practice of Revalorisation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to read upcycling not only as a virtuous ecological practice, but also as a social and collective phenomenon. The focus is therefore not on the ecological implications of such practice, but on the ways it manifests itself as a cultural reorganization of value within a society. Indeed, upcycling, as the valorization of something that has exhausted or lost its value (waste), enables the reintroduction of re-valued waste into a new life cycle as a useful object and thus the creation of continuity between the old and the new, the past and the future. Specifically, upcycling is analyzed as a process that has to do with the attribution – or denial – of value to objects in the context of complex and articulated social networks. Similarities between the process of upcycling and that of bricolage are also highlighted, emphasizing its creative aspect.