February 5th, 2010

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Recycling doesn’t mean settling for something less. It can mean adding value for less. But the end product might even be better than ever. (Hence, the term upcycling.)

VictorVictoria chair (Photo: Blugirlart Inc.)

But whether a first iteration or an item’s reincarnation is superior hardly matters when the end result makes the owner happy and the object serves its purpose well, maybe even rises above, to a higher calling.

Those who reclaim items for a second or third life are often driven by this reward, the thrill of taking something bound for the trash and rescuing it, restoring it and assigning it to a better life. We’re thinking of artists who meld old garden tools into garden sculpture or carpenters who assemble barn planks into gleaming table tops.

[Read more →]