If ever there were ever a need for an eco dictionary!
Upstream is the input market and downstream the output market, got that … ummm, no, not really. Let’s try again, upstream recycling means manufacturers creating products that are better for the environment, less packaging or superior degradable products for example. Downstream however is argued as being companies who turn material that would have otherwise been thrown away into a new product.
But now I am really confused because that is what we do and companies like terracycle and I have always called it upcycling. Indeed, upcycling has a definition in wiki (well that’s that then!) whereas downstream and upstream recycling do not. ‘… Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value…’
So…. I will stick to the old recycling and upcycling of sails and sailcloth. We upcycle sails into new products and we hope one day to recycle sails to sell back to sailcloth manufactures.