The Upcycle Recycle Trend

When I first started my blog about recycling, I though recycling included making anything discarded and turning into a new item

Well, it seems I was wrong and I admit it! 

Upcycling is transforming an old disused item into a new and usable and even saleable item

While there may be those who upcycle just for the pleasure of knowing they are doing their bit to help save the environment, there will be others who sell the finished item as well as gaining the same pleasure

Only recently I saw a photograph of an upcycled item made from disused wooden pallets, which had been turned into a plant holding troughs that could be fattened to a garden fence

Someone else displayed a garden chair made from wooden pallets, with instructions on how to make your own

Although I don’t know whether either item were on sale, or if the instructions were to be free or whether there was a fee to pay

One novel idea I came across, made full use of upcycling, by using empty drinks cans and drilling and placing them together to make solar panels, the finished items became a green product for sale

Because of the amount of time involved in refining and producing finished ready to use solar panels

Someone I meet through eBay, produced mood drums from empty calor gas drums, but decided to produce further drums without the use of those drums as they were too heavy

Sometime laterwhile visiting Moseley village they had a farmer's market and arts and crafts stalls too

With one where they had somehow flattened glass bottles, still with the label on and some had been converted into clocks

These are just a few items that used the upcycle method, if you know of any others please leave details in the comment box to help would-be enterprising up-cyclers 

Gardening Recycling

If you are into gardening, the size of the garden does not matter you will need to make the soil fertile
Soil is a combination of substances, but over time it loses the quality and consistency and it can always improved
Improvement can be done by adding fertilizer and peat, which is fine but this can become expensive
This is where composting comes into play, by using a special container bin, and adding dead plants and other green stuff

Such as grass cuttings - dead leaves - cuttings, but there are also other things that can be added to increase the richness of the finished compost
Old newspaper and old letters all of which should be shredded, so the composting process will be increased
Also a compost maker powder will also help speed the process

Adding water can help keep the compost moist, there are some that use fizzy drinks that have gone flat
Be sure from time to time you empty the compost bin out from the bottom and bag it up into strong black plastic bags although the colour matters less than the strength

What is Alternative Energy

Although this article is not about recycling, it comes close as alternative energy is making use of other sources of energy
There is a lot of energy that we can harness if we only seek to research and develop the technologies needed to do so. We can get away from the fossil fuels and the old electrical grids by turning to alternatives to these energy sources. One of these alternative energy resources is wind power.
Wind turbines continue to be developed that are progressively more energy efficient and less costly. “Wind farms” have been springing up in many nations, and they have even become more strategically placed over time so that they are not jeopardizing birds as former wind turbines did.

 Another alternative energy resource is the one that is most well known: solar energy. This involves the manufacturing of solar cells which gather and focus the energy given off directly by the sun, and translate it into electricity which then be used to haet water.

 As with wind energy, solar energy creates absolutely zero pollution. Ocean wave energy is seen by governments and investors as having enormous energy generating potential. A generator in France has been in operation for many years now and is considered to be a great success, and the Irish and Scots are running experimental facilities.

Hydroelectric power has been with us for a while and where it is set up, it is a powerful generator of electricity and cleaner than a grid. However, there are certain limitations to the availability of the right places to set up a large dam.

Many run-of-the-river, or small and localized, hydroelectric generators have been set up in recent times due to this limitation. Geothermal energy is extremely abundant, since it lies directly beneath our feet, just a few miles below the earth's surface. This energy is produced by the heating of water through the actions of earth's fantastically hot molten core.

 The water turns to steam, which can be harnessed and used to drive turbine engines which in turn generate electricity. Great amounts of research and development should be put into geothermal energy tapping. 
Waste gas energies, which are essentially methane, reverse the usual energy-pollution relationship by creating energy from waste that lies in the dumps and from some air pollutants. This gas is used in fuel cells and can be used in standard gasoline generators. Ethanol is a gasoline substitute and is created from such things as wheat, sugarcane, grapes, strawberries, corn, and even wood chips and wood cellulose.

There is controversy over this fuel with regards to its ever becoming truly economical or practical except in very localized areas, but technologies for its extraction and mixture are continuously being refined. Biodiesel energy is created out of the oils contained in plants.
So far, the commercial stores of biodiesel have been created using soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oils. 
At the time of this writing, biodiesel is typically produced by entrepreneurial minded individuals or those who want to experiment with alternative energy, but commercial interest from companies is on the rise. It burns much cleaner than oil-based diesel. Atomic energy is created in atomic energy plants using the process of nuclear fission.

This energy is extremely efficient and can generate huge amounts of power. There is concern from some people about what to do with the relatively small amount of waste product atomic energy gives off, since it is radioactive and takes hundreds of years to decay into harmlessness.

More recently I saw a YouTube video with a young 13 year old boy claimed to have invented a unlimited energy device, and asked for investors to help manufacture theses devices
But the lad forgot to give any way to contact him, so as to provide funding money

What are others doing to Recycle?

Recycle used plastic bags.
In this video I show you how I reuse plastic bags.



Wasted time is one thing we can't recycle.

By JarJar_Baby at 03/09/2013 9:17

How to Recycle Bras and Other Tips on Going Green - Los Altos Patch: Go beyond cans, bottles and cardboard to ... http://t.co/tkmEoCvLSy

By AlternativeERG at 03/09/2013 9:17

 


http://twistedsifter.com/2012/06/creative-ways-to-repurpose-reuse-and-upcycle-old-things/

Other people who Recycle

Cycle Recycle: Old Bicycles & New Art | KTXL FOX40
A Sacramento bike lover and artist creates unique jewelery, accessories, art and sculptures from recycled bike parts. Perfect for cyclists, bike enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates artistic design.
Publish Date: 03/06/2013 8:25
http://fox40.com/2013/03/06/home-cycle-recycle/

Recycle : Plastic Water Bottle Flowers
This tutorial shows how to make beautiful and colorful flowers out of recycled plastic water bottles. if you paint only at the back side of the flower, it wi...


Recycle : How to make drinking straw flowers
Drinking straw flower making tutorial..what an idea. Here i am showing how to make flowers out of drinking straws. They look like daisies. Super quick and ea...


What Not To Compost or Recycle - Apartment Therapy
Composting and recycling seem like straightforward systems, but as with most processes, there are shades of gray to the black and white designations of "plastic", "paper", and "glass".
Publish Date: 03/22/2013 11:00
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/what-not-to-compost-or-recycle-30-items-to-avoid-mother-nature-network-186706



The dress I made from a 50p pillowcase, not one bit was thrown away. The flowers were my daughter's idea, the whole photo shoot was her creative input, yes, at 4 yrs old.
Author:Anna Baria Photography