The slides presented at the Product Lifetimes And The Environment (PLATE) 2017 Conference in Delft, Netherlands on 8th of November, 2017. This presentation is based on the workshop with small upcycling business enterpreneurs in the UK. The main results are challenges and support for scaling up upcycling businesses in the UK and potential actors responsible for change.

1. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Kyungeun Sung (VC 2020 Lecturer in Product Design)
Design and New Product Development Research Group
School of Design, Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities
De Montfort University
Tim Cooper (Professor in Sustainable Consumption) and Jagdeep Singh (Research
Fellow in Sustainable Business) in the School of Architecture, Design and the Built
Environment; and Usha Ramanathan (Associate Professor in Supply Chain
Management) in Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University
Product Lifetimes and The Environment 2017 Conference, Delft, Netherlands (8-10 November, 2017)
Challenges and support for scaling up upcycling
businesses in the UK: Insights from small-
business entrepreneurs

2. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Table of contents
▪ Introduction
▪ Methods
▪ Results
▪ Discussion and conclusion

3. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Introduction
http://www.sarahturner.co.uk/Cola%2010/cola30.html

4. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Creation or modification of a product from used materials, components
or products which is of equal or higher quality or value than the
compositional elements (Sung, Cooper & Kettley 2014; Sung 2017)
http://ghk.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/15/11/54ff6adf88ead-peplum.jpg http://www.flashdrivepros.com/Images/1000recoveredflashdrives.jpg
Definition of upcycling

5. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
▪ An umbrella concept which incorporates ‘creative’ repair, reuse,
refurbishment, upgrade, recreation and more (Sung, Cooper & Kettley 2017;
Sung 2017)
▪ Alternative consumption (Albinsson & Yasanthi Perera, 2012)
▪ Alternative production (e.g. Sung & Cooper, 2015)
Upcycling as a concept

6. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Benefits of upcycling
Environmental:
➢ extending lifetimes of used products, components and materials 
increasing material efficiency + reducing industrial energy
consumption (Allwood, Ashby, Gutowski, & Worrell, 2011)  lowering GHGs
(Hamit-Haggar, 2012)
➢ Reducing solid waste (Bramston & Maycroft, 2013)
Economic: creating jobs (businesses) + saving money (consumers)
Social: offering jobs for disadvantaged people (businesses) +
emotional/psychological well-being (consumers) (Politowicz, 2009; Sung, 2017;
Sung, Cooper and Kettley, 2014; Teli, Valia, Maurya, & Shitole, 2014)

7. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Existing studies on upcycling and knowledge gap
▪ Focus on niche practices of fashion and textiles upcycling (e.g. Han, Tyler,
& Apeagyei, 2015; Paras, Curteza, & Pal, 2016)
▪ Potential of upcycling businesses
▪ Sector-specific suggestions for scaling up
 Ways of achieving the full potential of upcycling-based businesses
across the whole economy

8. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Aim
Provide some commercial insights for scaling up upcycling-based
businesses across different product categories in the context of small
enterprises in the UK

9. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Methods
http://www.angharadmclaren.co.uk/#/weaving-darns/

10. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Participatory workshop with upcycling entrepreneurs
▪ March 2016 at the University of London, UK
▪ Invitations to the UK-based upcycling enterprises (Remade in Britain,
Folksy, hackspace/makerspace, google search, word of mouth)
▪ 25 interested
▪ 12 participated: 10 females; 9 between 30 and 49 yrs; 8 full time; 9 sole
traders; annual gross sales under £20,000
▪ Materials: timber (4); fabrics (4); packaging (3)
▪ Products: fashion items (n=3); home accessories (3); furniture (2);
jewellery (2); cabins (1); musical instruments (1); artwork (1)

11. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Workshop procedures and analysis
▪ A half day workshop
▪ keynote speeches
▪ Small group activities (6 per group) with expert facilitators
a) Challenges faced by participants (size + un/common)
b) Support required for scaling up (un/important + demand)
▪ A whole group discussion
a) Actors responsible for introducing changes
▪ Audio recording > transcription > manual coding

12. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment http://www.upcycledfurniture.co.uk/product/the-american-fluted-chair/
Results

13. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Challenges for upcycling businesses
Common Uncommon
Big
- Sourcing sufficient materials
- Time-consuming upcycling craft
- Time-consuming marketing
- No product category
- Variable product quality and inadequate
quality assurance
- Place/space to work
- Consumers’ preference for the mass-
produced
- Expensive rent
(for work
space)
- Consumers’
reluctance to
accept
alternative
materials
M
- Identifying suitable marketplace (on/off line)
- Consumers’ (negative) perception of upcycling
- Disturbing working
environment (at home)
S
- Limits in working from home
- Storing materials
- Working with damaged materials
- Consumers’ fear of product failure
- NA

14. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Support for scaling up
High demand Low demand
EI
- Education and communication to raise
awareness and enlighten the public about
the value of upcycling
- Grants, loans, low business rates
- Community events and, networks for
learning from each other
NA
VI
- Use of social media for public engagement
- Places to work (away from home)
- Effective promotion and marketing
- Creative industry business management support
- Help with funding bids
- Stable material suppliers
I
- Connections with physical stores and pop-up shops
- Providing evidence of environmental sustainability
- Network of freelance
associates to deal with
workload peaks
- Industrial equipment hiring
service

15. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Actors responsible for change
▪ Mainstream businesses: waste management and database
▪ Government: policies and regulations on waste, health and safety
for reuse, repair and upcycling
▪ Local authorities: promotion of reuse, repair and upcycling in
municipal solid waste management

16. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Discussion
and
conclusion
http://seadriftdesign.bigcartel.com/product/otterburn-mill-blanket-rucksack

17. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Particular challenges for upcycling businesses
▪ Sourcing sufficient used or waste materials with consistent types
and quality
▪ Working with damaged materials (and assuring quality)
▪ Changing consumers’ perceptions and beliefs about upcycling and
upcycled products

18. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Particular support for upcycling businesses
▪ Provision of stable material suppliers
▪ Skills development for high quality upcycling
▪ Education and communication to improve consumers’ perceptions
and beliefs about upcycling and upcycled products
▪ Policies and regulations to encourage more reuse, repair and
upcycling

19. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Conclusion
▪ Limited sample size
▪ Good starting point to understand challenges + discuss support
▪ Recent research: stakeholder perspectives on challenges and
success factors for scaling up
▪ Future research: validation of the combined findings

20. Kyungeun Sung, Sustainable Consumption Research Group, School of Architecture, Design and the Built EnvironmentImage sources: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/clapresentation-talisopenday-march14-140328085008-phpapp01/95/cla-presentation-talis-open-day-march-14-14-638.jpg?cb=1395996639
Kyungeun.sung@dmu.ac.uk
http://kyungeunsung.com
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kyungeun_Sung
Thank you. Any questions?