Whats upcycling?
Upcycling is the action of “recycling from above”. In concrete terms, the concept is to recover materials or products that are no longer used to create objects or products of superior quality. To “upcycle” is to reuse, but above all it’s to reinvest the end-of-life object to give it a new, high-end life, often far removed from its original use. Upcycling is the process of transforming raw materials and used products into entirely new, more valuable objects. In other words, it involves taking advantage of recyclable materials to create products that have a higher value than the original material. Upcycling can enable transformed goods to be reused, without altering the properties of the material during the processing stages. This considerably reduces the need for additional raw materials. What’s more, this iterative system helps solve some of our planet’s environmental problems, such as the amount of detritus and waste that ends up in landfills, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and, more generally, benefits our planet’s ecosystem.
Since its creation, Halcyon has been innovating, recycling and promoting upcycling. From bauxite mining to the virtuous cycle of aluminum recycling
In fact, the diagram above illustrates the classic stages in the recycling of aluminum, in this case household waste. Here are a few figures to give you a clear idea of the stakes and benefits involved in using this material, which could almost be described as “green” – virtuous, at the very least: it’s totally recyclable, and over the course of its life cycle, only 5% of energy will be needed to return it to the ingot or strip state. While the initial transformation of bauxite and alumina requires energy to produce primary aluminum, once the stock has been obtained, it does not disappear and can be used indefinitely. It should be pointed out that 1 kg of recycled aluminum is also 4 kg of bauxite/alumina saved, and that with the 95% of aluminum recycled in the industrial and construction sectors, 80,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) are not generated.
Source: https://www.aluminium.fr/cycle-de-vie-et-recyclage/
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