International Upcycling Research Network

Upcycling refers to material processes and innovations of utilising used or waste products, components and materials in order to create a product of higher quality or value than the compositional elements. It is an umbrella concept incorporating 'creative' or 'advanced' forms of repair, reuse, repurpose, refurbishment, upgrade, redesign, remake, remanufacture, recycling and more. Upcycling increases resource efficiency, reduces solid waste and the industrial energy consumption involved in processing and manufacturing with virgin materials, and creates new job opportunities. It encourages consumers' sustainable behaviour, which also contributes to individuals' money-saving and psychological wellbeing. The economic and social benefits of upcycling are especially noteworthy in the current Coronavirus pandemic situation with increasing financial difficulties and poor psychological wellbeing experienced by many people.

Yet, despite the anticipated benefits, upcycling remains a niche practice. Moving from a niche to a mainstream practice could realise the full potential of upcycling. Under the increasing pressure to achieve a more sustainable system of production and consumption, upcycling is a timely response as it could facilitate an economy based on material circularity, in place of the current linear economy of take, make, use and dispose. The recent increase in publications, initiatives and businesses in upcycling shows growing academic and industrial interest. Research, however, is still embryonic, lacking multiple-industry, multidisciplinary or international results (Sung et al., 2021). Development of upcycling theory and practices across industries, disciplines and countries is required for growth. The proposed 'International Upcycling Research Network' will facilitate such cross-industry, cross-discipline, and international research.

Understanding interrelated and self-reinforcing challenges in the global upcycling value chain is critical particularly for scaling up global upcycling. For example, consumers' negative perception of upcycled products affects the demand which affects price and therefore sales, leading to a limited market resulting in few available good-quality products that feed back into consumers' adverse perception of upcycled goods. Multiple such loops are interacting with each other in the value chain (Singh et al., 2019). Existing studies of upcycling are mostly industry and country specific (e.g. Cumming, 2017; Singh et al., 2019) and whether the factors impacting on its success are the same across industries and countries is largely unknown, making it difficult to establish which challenges are best addressed first in order to scale up upcycling effectively. The initial focus of the network will be addressing this knowledge gap by collaborative investigation with the invited global experts.