How Was Recycling and Upcycling Exercised Before Industrialization?
Waste materials are recycled, recovered, and reprocessed for re-use in new goods. The fundamental operations in recycling are the collection of waste materials, their processing or manufacturing into new products, and the purchasing of commodities that can be recycled. Upcycling is the process of transforming trash or undesirable objects into usable products or enhancing the value of an existing product with the goal of minimizing waste and increasing resource efficiency.
Recycling differs from upcycling in that; recycling must pass through a facility to be broken down and reused in the manufacturing process. Recycling is the process of destroying trash in order to create something fresh. However, upcycling entails taking waste and repurposing it in your house to make something useful for you. Upcycling takes waste and generates something new from it in its existing state.
Throwing things away was a last choice before the Industrial Revolution. The emergence of low-cost consumer goods, as households mended, repurposed, and recycled household items until there was little left to use. The remnants were then given to the ragman. People reuse their belongings in many cultures. Women repaired and knitted their father’s damaged pants into the son’s smaller pants. Quilts were constructed from scraps of old clothing and the worn-out quilts were repurposed for other purposes, such as padding a handcrafted chair. Men made and repaired furniture and repurposed household goods on a daily basis.
The commodities manufacturing cycle was also different than it is today, operating as a closed loop in which merchants and peddlers not only sold items, but also retrieved what the family couldn’t reuse — scraps of metal, cloth rags, and shards of glass — and converted them into new goods. Before the industrial revolution, people used to melt down metals and repurpose old metal products into new objects such as currency, jewellery, and other household items. It was easier to reuse existing materials than it was to find new ones, thus broken tools or weapons were reused and converted into smaller items for home use.
In Japan in the 9th century, recycled paper was first used. Paper recycling began almost as soon as ancient Japanese people learned how to create it, and it has since become an essential part of paper manufacturing and use in Japan. Recycled paper is valued more than fresh paper in Japanese culture, and it is commonly used in artwork and poetry. An emperor’s wife recycled all of the poems and letters she had received from him after the emperor died, and penned a sutra on the recycled paper to wish him peace in the 12th century. The Rittenhouse Mill began recycling linen and cotton leftovers in 1690. Printers purchased these resources’ paper to use in Bibles and newspapers.
In terms of industrial pollution, industrialization has resulted in environmental damage. Highly polluting sectors such as thermal power plants, coal mines, cement, sponge iron, steel & ferroalloys, petroleum, and chemicals produce dust, smoke, fumes, and poisonous gas emissions. With industrialization came the concept of “affordable luxury,” as well as a greater emphasis on fashion, style, and attaining the most cutting-edge technological advancements. There was also a relation made between poverty and fixing and reusing goods. The craftsmanship abilities that were previously so important in families have dwindled as a result of living in an industrial culture. Most people today couldn’t make the things needed for basic survival if they have to, but some of those skills such as knitting, are still practiced as hobbies. Luxuries have shifted people’s perspectives, and recycling is now associated with poverty. To shift interest and safeguard resources for future generations, we need to raise awareness.
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