If you have old materials and supplies you don’t want anymore, it might be worth considering what they could be before you organise waste disposal. Whether you’re looking to transform old furniture, repurpose glass jars, or find innovative ways to reuse fabric scraps, this guide from one of Staffordshire’s favourite skip companies will provide practical ideas and inspiration to help you get started.
What is Upcycling?
As an alternative to recycling, upcycling is the process of making new pieces out of old supplies. Upcycling can be done with various items, from broken pieces of furniture to excess packaging. Unlike recycling, upcycling will retain much of the original item's structure while enhancing its value or its functionality. By repurposing unused items, we can help to reduce overall amounts of waste while creating something new and beautiful.
Preparing to Upcycle
Before starting an upcycling project, there are some key things you might like to consider. By carefully planning your upcycling project, you can make the process smoother, and more enjoyable, and ultimately create something unique and valuable. Read on to discover two key ways to help you prepare.
Finding Inspiration
Knowing what to do with a material isn’t always easy. Luckily, inspiration for a project can be found in many places, including magazines, blog posts and social media. To help you plan how a project will go, often it can be helpful to create a mood board and calculate some rough estimates for size if you’re planning a large project.
Determining Suitability
Not all items are suitable for upcycling, so, before starting a project, it’s important to determine whether a specific item can be safely upcycled. A few safety checks can help to protect you from harm and ensure that your final result will be both secure and stable. Inspect the materials for any hazards for example, such as rusted nails or broken glass, which can harm you if left unchecked when you carry out work.
A few materials that are generally unsuitable for recycling include:
● Hazardous materials, such as asbestos
● Foot contaminated items
● Medical and sanitary waste
● Electrical items (without proper handling by professionals)
● Flammable or toxic items
Key Upcycling Supplies
There are some general supplies to keep to hand if you’re planning to start upcycling disused belongings and materials. Read on to discover some upcycling essentials to get you started.
Paint
Often, to bring life back to old furniture or transform recyclables, paint is invaluable. When applied to older materials, paint can completely change its colour and texture and make it fit in better with your new style. Paints can come in various forms, including those suited to outdoor use or those tailored to use on wood. Picking the right paint can significantly impact the outcome of your project, so speak to your supplier if you’re unsure if the paint you have chosen will be right for upcycling your materials.
Cutting and Shaping Instruments
Upcycling clothing is a great way to get more use out of them while adapting them to your current requirements and preferences. To edit clothes, you will need something to effectively and easily cut them with. Fabric knives and sewing scissors are particularly good in this scenario.
If you’re working with hard materials such as metal and wood, it is unlikely that sew scissors will get the job done. For these materials, it’s best to opt for tools like saws, which are designed to cut through a material with ease and minimal damage.
Screwdrivers
To dismantle furniture while conserving the possibility of reassembly, you are likely to need a screwdriver. Having an organised set of screwdrivers is often the best solution, as it means you have the right tool to hand at all times, even if a piece of furniture has multiple types of screws. After dismantling, you may even be able to reuse the screws in another project!
Sandpaper
While paint is an incredibly useful material for revamping a piece of furniture or other disused belongings, often the piece will need sanding first. Sanding will help remove old layers of paint and contaminants, providing a smooth and level surface for paint to be applied over. Sandpaper is therefore great to have on hand, as it can easily remove the top layers that might be otherwise difficult to remove.
Creative Upcycling Ideas
Ready to get started with creating something new out of your old materials? In this section, you can discover some inspiring ideas that could spark your next project.
Transform Old Furniture
Often wasted and destroyed, old furniture is one of the easiest things for property owners to upcycle and repurpose. There are several ways to upcycle old features, from simply replacing the handles to dismantling the piece and transforming it into something new entirely. Taking out specific drawers and cupboard doors, for example, can make a piece of furniture quickly suited to another purpose. Why not try transforming your old wardrobe into a display cabinet, for example, or a chest of drawers into storage for shoes?
Use Leftover Packaging
An excess of packaging is something households are frequently faced with, from cardboard delivery boxes to glass sauce jars. Luckily, these materials have plenty of other purposes and can be reused all across the home. Upcycling glass jars for example could be removing any current labels, and making your own to attach. Jars make great storage solutions, so keep them on hand.
For bigger deliveries, especially during renovations, you may find you are left with substantial types of packaging. Large packaging such as pallets can be especially useful when upcycled, making them worth holding on to. Dismantled, pallets can be transformed into shelving, cocktail bars, outdoor bin stores and much more.
Utilise Old Clothing
Over many years, certain pieces of clothing might not be used by you as often anymore, letting them go to waste. Rather than directing these pieces to landfill, clothing can be refreshed and upcycled to create something new.
One of the most easily grown out of clothing is children’s. Babies grow especially quickly, meaning that a lot of clothing is no longer usable. Creating a quilted blanket out of old baby clothing can be a wonderful way to keep sentimental items in the home, without them losing their purpose.
What to Do With Waste Materials
Unfortunately, some materials cannot be upcycled. They may, however, be perfect for recycling, leading them into a new life. Below, discover two ways to deal with waste on your property.
Household Recycling
The type of green waste disposal most of us are familiar with is household recycling. Picked up in dedicated bins from the roadside, household recycling is incredibly convenient for getting rid of small pieces of recyclable waste. Unfortunately, household recycling is often unsuitable for large materials, such as those produced during renovation projects.
Skip Rentals in Newcastle-under-Lyme
If you can’t put your waste materials in your household recycling, hiring a skip can often be a great alternative. Larger than typical household waste bins, skips offer enough space for larger materials to easily fit in. These vessels are simply delivered to your property and left in an accessible location, ready for you to fill with rubbish.
At Cherry Hill Waste, we aim to help all waste be responsibly disposed of. Our team of experts provide a wide range of skips in all shapes and sizes, perfect for both commercial and domestic use.
Our skip rental sizes include:
● 2-yard skips
● 3-yard skips
● 4-yard skips
● 5-yard skips
● 8-yard skips
● 10-yard skips
● 12-yard skips
● Roll-on, roll-off skips
Get in Touch
Ready to responsibly dispose of the waste you can’t upcycle with our rubbish removal team? Please visit our website to discover more about us and our rubbish removals in Stoke on Trent. Here, you will find the details of hiring one of our skips, including which materials we can and cannot accept in a skip. Alternatively, for a quote on our services, please get in touch with our friendly team directly.
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