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K. Sung
to-cradle approach to design, business, production, consumption and lifestyles—e.g.
aluminium keeps its potential endless high value cycle. In this context, upcycling
is a synonym of an act based on a cradle-to-cradle approach or principles which
eliminates the concept of waste by reutilising used or discarded materials for multiple
cycles. Beynaghi et al. (2014) regarded Braungart and McDonough’s latest book
“The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—designing for abundance” (2013) as a weak
signal to indicate that the sustainable development concept is currently in transition
to post sustainability in explaining the evolution of the nexus between sustainable
development and higher education. Kılkı¸ s and Kılkı¸ s (2017) suggested upcycling
(cradle-to-cradle act) as part of environmental education contents to show solutions or
frameworks to enable sustainability within a module/course in energy policy. Leube
and Walcher (2017) utilised upcycling as a content and general approach applied to
education curricula for designing for a circular economy in the department of design
and product management. In Lee and DeLong’s article (2018), upcycling was used
as an interchangeable term with ‘rebirth design’—redesign of stock items (unsold
and returned products) to new saleable products in fashion. Robinson et al. (2016)
used upcycling as a sub-category of bricolage—accumulating odds and ends and
recombining existing and discarded resources for new purposes—in the context of
entrepreneurship.
When upcycling was used as a practice, two articles described how fashion upcycling practice was used for a collaborative design process between students and external organisations (company or charity) in student projects. Lee and DeLong (2018)
involved one fashion company that provided items of stock from various brands to
apparel students in fashion design school such that the students could be involved
in the process of redesign, refinement, remanufacturing and consumer study (preference test for upcycled clothes). Park (2014) documented a collaborative product
development project between a non-profit organisation and a university to develop
new marketable products by reusing military parachutes and wool so as to provide
entrepreneur solutions for disabled and disadvantaged veterans and their families.
Another article described how general upcycling practice could be used for teaching sustainability: Dharmasasmita et al. (2017) suggested upcycling as one of new
activities for Sustainable Challenge Days (university level sustainability initiative).
In an entrepreneurship module/course, Robinson et al. (2016) gave students a group
assignment of constructing a product from waste materials as a practice of bricolage.
3.4 Why: Why Upcycling for and in Higher Education
Three papers reported the cases that upcycling was used as means to the end, contributing to sustainable development. Kılkı¸ s and Kılkı¸ s (2017), in energy policy,
utilised upcycling as part of educational contents as they believe that a transition in
the education system is a prerequisite for enabling a transition in society towards realising more sustainable energy, water and environmental systems. Similarly, Leube
and Walcher (2017) incorporated principles of circular economy (CE)—an economy
K. Sung
to-cradle approach to design, business, production, consumption and lifestyles—e.g.
aluminium keeps its potential endless high value cycle. In this context, upcycling
is a synonym of an act based on a cradle-to-cradle approach or principles which
eliminates the concept of waste by reutilising used or discarded materials for multiple
cycles. Beynaghi et al. (2014) regarded Braungart and McDonough’s latest book
“The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—designing for abundance” (2013) as a weak
signal to indicate that the sustainable development concept is currently in transition
to post sustainability in explaining the evolution of the nexus between sustainable
development and higher education. Kılkı¸ s and Kılkı¸ s (2017) suggested upcycling
(cradle-to-cradle act) as part of environmental education contents to show solutions or
frameworks to enable sustainability within a module/course in energy policy. Leube
and Walcher (2017) utilised upcycling as a content and general approach applied to
education curricula for designing for a circular economy in the department of design
and product management. In Lee and DeLong’s article (2018), upcycling was used
as an interchangeable term with ‘rebirth design’—redesign of stock items (unsold
and returned products) to new saleable products in fashion. Robinson et al. (2016)
used upcycling as a sub-category of bricolage—accumulating odds and ends and
recombining existing and discarded resources for new purposes—in the context of
entrepreneurship.
When upcycling was used as a practice, two articles described how fashion upcycling practice was used for a collaborative design process between students and external organisations (company or charity) in student projects. Lee and DeLong (2018)
involved one fashion company that provided items of stock from various brands to
apparel students in fashion design school such that the students could be involved
in the process of redesign, refinement, remanufacturing and consumer study (preference test for upcycled clothes). Park (2014) documented a collaborative product
development project between a non-profit organisation and a university to develop
new marketable products by reusing military parachutes and wool so as to provide
entrepreneur solutions for disabled and disadvantaged veterans and their families.
Another article described how general upcycling practice could be used for teaching sustainability: Dharmasasmita et al. (2017) suggested upcycling as one of new
activities for Sustainable Challenge Days (university level sustainability initiative).
In an entrepreneurship module/course, Robinson et al. (2016) gave students a group
assignment of constructing a product from waste materials as a practice of bricolage.
3.4 Why: Why Upcycling for and in Higher Education
Three papers reported the cases that upcycling was used as means to the end, contributing to sustainable development. Kılkı¸ s and Kılkı¸ s (2017), in energy policy,
utilised upcycling as part of educational contents as they believe that a transition in
the education system is a prerequisite for enabling a transition in society towards realising more sustainable energy, water and environmental systems. Similarly, Leube
and Walcher (2017) incorporated principles of circular economy (CE)—an economy