Every day, people everywhere churn out mountains of plastic and non-biodegradable waste which threaten to eclipse our living spaces. And yet, traditional cultures around the world have not had a conception of waste. Each and every thing is to be used and re-used, until its own unique place and purpose has been found. We recognize that our local ecosystem provides us with everything we need for building our homes and community spaces, creating art and music, nourishing our bodies and supporting our livelihoods.

Practitioners in this field are engaging in upcycling experiments to create alternative technologies, functional items and art out of waste. They are transforming industrial and household waste into solar cookers and bicycle powered blenders and grinders. Some are creating objects from “garbage” that are useful, durable and beautiful—such as furniture, books and toys. Others are using materials salvaged from the local dump for construction and renovations. They are experimenting with building environmentally innovative structures and taking advantage of renewable, natural resources such as solar power and local timber for building.

Berkana has launched an interactive upcycling web portal for practitioners to share learnings and ideas, as well as to share upcycling practices with a wider audience.Visit the ManyOne upcycling portal.

Visit Berkana’s WiserEarth pages to learn more about Ecobuilding and Upcycling.