ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how we talk about recycling, and related activities and ideas, in order to establish context for the discussions that follow in later chapters. It begins with a short history of recycling, tracing the ancient origins of contemporary practices. Recycling of materials is then contrasted with direct repurposing and reuse of products. There then follows a consideration of upcycling, a contemporary term that is used in two contrasting ways to describe how materials and products can be recycled to a higher value. This challenges the norm of downcycling, whereby the value of material is diminished by the recycling process. Non-material recycling is then examined via examples of the term being used to describe the transformation of non-physical material. Finally, the morals of recycling are examined in terms of the apparent compulsion to recycle, and the potential limits to what we are prepared to recycle.
