This qualitative research study investigates the effectiveness of gamified handicrafts as an inspiration for teenagers to practice recycling and upcycling. The study utilises focus group interviews and thematic analysis to explore the perceptions and experiences of 15 teenagers who participated in an educational programme called Edcraft, which combines gamification and handicrafts to promote sustainable practices among youth. The findings reveal that Edcraft successfully motivates teenagers to engage in recycling and upcycling activities through its gamified approach, which includes challenges, rewards and social interaction. Themes such as ‘social connections are vital’, ‘convenience and rewards are significant motivators’, ‘gamified activities help attract and engage teens’ and ‘environmental knowledge is crucial to prolonging recycling’ emerged from the thematic analysis. The results also highlight the positive impact of Edcraft on teenagers’ attitudes towards the environment and their willingness to adopt sustainable behaviours beyond the programme. The implications of these findings for promoting environmental education and sustainability among teenagers are discussed, and recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

Art is rarely imagined as a strategic approach in the design of the future city. The purpose here is to offer a perspective on future cities that resides at the intersection of art and the practice of upcycling. I dub this perspective ‘Tache with Trash’, offering an artistic design for busy locales based on transforming recyclable waste into a vibrant spectrum of colours. Applicable in places like shopping malls, campuses and convention centres, I envision individuals disposing of trash in a shredding machine that injects those fragments into transparent containers, such as glass ornaments and glass wall panels. Disposing of recyclable trash becomes like dabbing a tache (stain, spot, blob) of pigment on an artwork. Rooted in the theoretical framework of ‘envisioning the future’, this perspective is inspired by the ‘junk art’ genre and aims to integrate communal art with sustainable upcycling. The benefits of the perspective include enhancing social interaction on sustainability, serving as a tool for younger generations’ sustainability education, providing a platform for local artists and assisting crowded centres with economization.

Design and engineering are fundamental activities in shaping the world we live in. Educating new generations in design and engineering, therefore, is crucial to build a better and more sustainable world. The changes in education for the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy, in particular, has become a priority for many educators. Aligned with the circular economy, a promising umbrella concept and practice called 'upcycling' is emerging. The concepts and practices in the circular economy and upcycling overlap depending on the definitions of the terms in various disciplines and sectors in different parts of the world. This has caused some confusion and misunderstanding. For educators aiming to teach students about sustainable design, production and consumption, it is beneficial to distinguish between these two concepts. Understanding the relationships (or interrelationships) between them in theory and practice is important for the educators to offer clear guidance and recommendations to future designers and engineers. This paper provides literature review on upcycling and circular economy, compares these two concepts, and visualises their interrelationship as draft teaching materials for design education.

Circular Economy (CE) and the potential of reusing and recycling the products after the end of their life, becomes imperative for environmental, economic and social reasons. Especially during the 4th Industrial Revolution that is taking place nowadays, an increasing number of out-of-date equipment has to be replaced, which constitutes a chance and necessity to be reused, through recycling, redesigning and remanufacturing. The paper presents proof-of-concept studies regarding upcycling of obsolete and outdated equipment into novel test rigs mainly addressing research activities. Three such case studies are presented, namely the upcycling of an injection moulding machine into a modular test bench for power hydraulic components, the upcycling of scrap components into a hybrid hydraulic/ ICE powertrain rig and the functional augmentation of a gear roll tester to accommodate single and double flank tests. Significant savings in cost, raw materials and time are demonstrated in all cases and adherence to the CE objectives are observed.

Local recirculation of materials is a key aspect for a green transition, as it enables materials to be reused in new life cycles locally. In this article, we use the material “paper” as a case study to explore how this material recirculates at the local scales. This article aims at observing and evaluating upcycling scenarios as part of an expansion of local end-of-life possibilities compared to the current situation where paper end-of-life is reduced to a few recycling plants in France and abroad. This work relies on interviews and questionnaires that aim at understanding how paper is used and explored by artists to be recirculated in products. Indicators were tested to provide a methodology to compare different material circulation scenarios in terms of material use, environmental impact and value perception. Collaboration among multiple actors, artists, community centres, schools and industrial players is crucial for scaling up such recirculation loops.

The shift from linear to circular patterns is on the way and rise many questions. In the last ten years, reuse and upcycling are gaining more attention. Since reduce and reuse were describe as a priority by the European Union, some leading projects are unveiled in different countries. Scale and quality of those projects push the reuse issue out of the shadow, far from original prejudices who associate waste and reuse to « poverty » and « Do It Yourself ». Although Reuse emerge as a prominent question, the idea and boundaries of « what is reuse » appears to be blur and not clearly understood. This situation lead to general incomprehension, even for professionals. Reuse, repurpose, upcycling and recycling are usually considered to wear the same meaning despite a huge difference on what it implies.

In this paper we will examine these different notions through a pedagogical case study. We will draw the different ways to regenerate value at all steps of product life cycle in a precise manner. This allows to better insight the meaning of those issues in the case of student design education. In the same time, it aims to be a tool for teaching sustainable design and waste management.