Upcycling is better than recycling or “reusing” in many ways. The idea is to start from discarded products or waste and create something sustainable, and usable as a daily item. Austrian shop Gabarage is busy showing the world the potential of garbage; the custom products that can be made from trash, and the money such products can bring in.

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With each passing day it is getting harder for us to imagine a world that is devoid of the television, laptop, PC, mobile phone and even the MP3 players and the gaming consoles. Sure, not everyone sports them al, but most of us are addicted to electronic gadgets and gladly enjoy the comfort and convenience they have to offer.

The problem though does not crop up from the usage, but the fact that you ultimately need to throw them away after they become old and less fashionable. And acccording to the Environmental Protection Agency, 1.5 million to 1.9 million tons of electronic waste was deposited in U.S. landfills in 2005. So is there a better way to deal with this looming hazard for the planet? Sure thing!

The problem is that e-waste contains hazardous chemicals and toxic metals such as flame retardants, arsenic, mercury and cadmium; making it lethal. With that in mind, initiatives like the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are taking shape in Europe to force consumers to recycle them responsibly and to dispose them in a manner that does the least damage to environment.

There are many companie’s that offer WEEE Compliance schemes and pick up trash from your doorstep so that it is dealt with in the appropriate fashion. This might cost you a tad bit, but it’s very little compare to what ill-disposed electronic waste causes to the planet. And of course you can always choose to donate the waste to your local church or school community which will gladly use your old laptop or even mobile and put it to good use.

Since most of us discard the old gadgets for new ones just to stay in style or because our technical requirements have outgrown the product, there is no reason why someone else could not use your perfectly good old device. And have you thought of those computer recycling programs offered by companies which are selling the products in the first place? You can mail your old monitors and systems back to the producer and most often they will deal with that responsibly.

A cool new initiative is being offered by Apple which appeals a lot to all the techno geeks who end up creating most of the electronic trash. Apple is willing to take in any old mobile phone or MP3 player and it will even send you the packaging.

Ilegally and obviously not morally correct to dispose off electronic waste in any other fashion, US and Europe are waking up to the fact, with large developing nations like China and India are turning into hot beds for poorly disposed electronic waste.

Images by maiac and zilpho

Japan has ideas out the gazoo when it comes to recycling.  At an upmarket residential area in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward one man is making colorful accent rugs from old clothes, 1960’s-style lamp shades from corrugated plastic board, and  candleholders from old bicycle chains. It’s called the ecoprinka brand with the aim of  “Co-existence with the Earth means enjoying doing ecologically conscious things.”

Another store offers furniture and household goods with a 1960s design with products that have been used for multiple generations of customers. You can buy a motorcycle seat with pipe legs for Y50,000 ($475).

A Finnish ec0-oriented design by Secco attracts young Japanese consumers to bags and cell phone straps made from discarded tire tubes and keyboards. Retailers throughout Japan carry the products. But…the truth of the matter is people often buy discarded or recycled products = junk, only to realize they don’t like the design and they become waste again.

So, are these products really being reused, recycled, or are some people just making money off of other’s guilt at not being ‘green’ enough? It seems to me to be the latter.