News Upcycling Campaign

Upcycling workshop in Latvia (BALTA DABA)

On 15 June 2013 BALTA DABA organized an annual event for new members of the association. During the event 19 young people between the ages 18-30 had a chance to participate in an upcycling workshop. The workshop consisted of 3 parts. In the beginning participants discussed why we need to save natural resources and how meaningful it is. In the second part participants were introduced to upcycling as a concept. Finally, participants applied gained knowledge in practice by upcycling different objects. Participants were most active in preparing bookmarks from old magazines. Participants left the workshop with clear understanding about upcycling and with a lot of upcycling ideas for the future.

See more photos here.

Upcycling Booklet in Russian

YEE's Official Upcycling Booklet has been translated into Russian and is available to download online for free. The booklet will give you an introduction into the world of upcycling. You will be able to read more about this environmentally-friendly concept and check many instructions on how to make upcycled objects from various materials.

Read it here.

Facebook Page

YEE has been posting ideas and updates on the Upcycling Campaign Facebook Page. 

Like the page here.

Upcycling Films

YEE's International Campaign on Upcycling has successfully created 20 short upcycling films! They demonstrate how to upcycle waste and star participants from 6 countries across Europe. The films celebrate upcycling as an eco-friendly concept and compliment YEE's Upcycling Booklet.

View the films here.

Upcycling Workshop in Portugal (OPE)

Action 1

On 27 June 2013 OPE visited Mindelo school centre to develop a workshop for about 20 children, on the theme of Upcycling. After a round conversation with participants about the value of waste, we put our hands to work to upcycle! Each one had the possibility to create their own paper bag, with step-by-step support from our Ecoclubinos volunteers. It was a very motivated activity of transformation and very interesting results have been achieved. Each child had the possibility to take their bag home, after the workshop. The main aim of this activity was to motivate young people to recognize the value of waste and connect it with nature preservation, ecological conditions and quality of life.

See more photos here 

Action 2

On 29 and 30 June 2013, OPE organized its VII awareness campaign - Rafts on the River Douro. It has been, since the first edition, a great example of a successful and usefull upcycling experience. From waste we build rafts that go down the river during two days. Upon the rafts arrival to the Cais de Gaia, on the last day, we created an interactive exhibition on upcycling, showing participants, the local community and tourists how to build their own upcycled items.It was, once again, a very enriching experience, contributing significantly to raising awareness about the true value of resources, especially waste.

Upcycling Workshop in Armenia (Khazer)

On 15 June 2013 Khazer organised an upcycling workshop in Ijevan, Armenia. More than 50 young people attended from local schools and NGOS (SOS Children's Villages, Eritasard Tavush and Huysi Kamurj). With the help of interactive discussion, presentations and upcycling movies, the workshop presented the benefits of upcycling. The participants were very creative in upcycling waste. They also bought some pre-made upcycling creations to the workshop, that they had been asked to create beforehand.

The upcycling creations were pretty, useful and some were even worthy of presenting in the museum as an exhibit. During the workshop each of the "little masters" presented what he or she had made, how and for what purpose. After the presentation all the attendees received presents and the best works were awarded with special gifts.

The aim of  the workshop was to motivate young people to consider the value of waste. This will help to preserve nature, reduce landfills and contribute to the improvement of ecological conditions in their communities.

Khazer is happy to report that YEE's International Campaign on Upcycling is supported in Armenia by: UCom; OSCE Armenia; UNDP; REC Caucasus; GEF Small Grant Program.

Upcycling at Moscow Zoo! (AYA)

On 8 June 2013 it was World Oceans Day. AYA used the opportunity to raise awareness of ocean pollution and the unbelievable 'garbage islands' that continue to grow. During the weekend volunteers were based at Moscow Zoo, delivering upcycling workshops for the public. Afterwards, children were given a special heart shape to stick over a garbage island on the world map. The idea was to symbolise how upcycling will reduce waste and prevent bigger garbage islands.

 PET - ART Veroniky Richterové Upcycling Workshop in Prague

On 18 June 2013 YEE hosted a special presentation by renowned Czech artist Veronika Richterová at Cafe V Lese in Prague. Richterová spoke about her work upcycling plastic bottles into art. She discussed her techniques, inspiration and the social issues surrounding plastic bottle waste. The presentation was followed by 3 short films from YEE's Upcycling Campaign and then some crafty upcycling demonstrations.

 Upcycling workshop in Czech Republic (Muddum Art Center)

On 15 June 2013 YEE teamed up with Muddum Art Center in Prague to create an upcycling workshop for local children.  The children made a popular board game called Snakes & Ladders out of old cardboard, cereal boxes and bottle caps. Then they upcycled old t-shirts into bags (see how here) to keep the board games safe. The workshop was light hearted and creative, completely using old materials (except for a special fabric paint).

NEW PUBLICATION: Upcycling Booklet

The official campaign publication has been released. This booklet will give you an introduction into the world of upcycling. You will be able to read more about Upcycling as an environmentally-friendly concept and check instructions on how to upcycle various materials. YEE collected upcycling ideas from its member organisations across Europe, so there's something for everyone.

Read it online here

Upcycling workshop in Albania (EDEN Center)

During the First National Environmental Film Festival in Albania (22-25 May 2013) there was an NGO market. EDEN center represented itself in an open area with a very original Upcycling corner. The people demonstrated a lot of curiosity for this corner and how to upcycle. The EDEN staff were ready to help people upcycle things that can be useful in their daily life. We hope that this day was an inspiration for all the people that visited EDEN's corner. 

Upcycling workshops in Armenia (Stepanavan Youth Center)

Members of Stepanavan Youth Center organised an upcycling workshop for 7-13 year old children at Zangak Social Center in Vanadzor. The workshop started with small introduction explaining what upcycling is. The idea first seemed unknown to them, but as SYC members started describing and giving examples they got enthusiastic and themselves started to give examples and ideas how to upcycle.
The workshop continued with practical work in upcycling. The participants created vases from plastic bottles and spoons, they created pictures from buttons and plastic cups and bottles.
At the end of the workshop, the children shared their impressions and willingness to consider upcycling and try to be environmentally more friendly in everyday life.

YEE's First Upcycling Video: Glove Teddybear

The campaigns first upycling video 'How to make a Glove Teddybear' is ready to watch! The movie was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic starring YEE's office team. Watch it here

The Official Campaign Poster

YEE's official Upcycling Campaign poster has arrived. The design illustrates how waste can be eco friendly if it is upcycled. There are so many upcycling possibilities, like the branches of a tree. You can download a high quality version of the poster here

Upcycling campaign in Albania (EDEN Center)

For the Earth Day on 22 April 2013, EDEN center organized a big event in Kucova city. They put a lot of emphasis on the Upcycling workshop in which the youth of the area participated. The participants were curious to learn more about the activity and to learn how to make different objects. This activity was an inspiration for the youth in this city but as well for the community.

First YEE Upcycling workshop (Prague, Czech Republic)

On 17th April 2013, YEE and Hnutí Brontosaurus hosted a workshop together to support YEE's Upcycling Campaign. We invited everyone who wanted to learn how to upcycle their old stuff, because we do not like waste if we can use our imagination and give it a second or third life. We met in Hnutí's headquarters in Prague, a very nice place in the city center where Irena invited us to try the amazing vegan cake she cooked.
Old T-shirts, jeans and tetra-packs were transformed into bike bags, wallets, shopping bags and book covers. By sharing our imagination and knowledge, we learnt together.
We also played the first, but not the last, YEE Upcycling video: How to transform a lonely glove into a pretty teddy bear.
Around 20 people came to enjoy the workshop. Our next workshops will take place in the Mudum art center and cafe V Lese. More news to come! 

Creating the booklet

All partners and all working teams started to work hard on creating first upcycling ideas. They took a lot of materials, scissors, glue, tape and they made many useful upcycled objects. Soon you will be able to discover how to make them through our booklet.

We are preparing now all descriptions and photos so that it would be easy for you to see how to make many upcycled objects.

The booklet should be ready in April. For now check our section Upcycling ideas to get first inspirations.

First phase of the campaign

Our Upcycling Campaign started in January with heavy planning. We had a skype meeting and decided all details about timing, division of work, plans for the campaign.

Now it's time to take action and start creating upcycling ideas! First we have to learn how to make them and then we will show others how many things you can make from trash!