UPCYCLING in ROMANIA: What you face when doing upcycling

Source : Green Report. \”Mobilierul din deșeuri, rațiunea de a exista a Wood be nice, QUIB și Tubatect\” [Furniture from waste, the raison d\’être of Wood be nice, QUIB and Tubatect]. Author: Irina Breniuc

Published May 18, 2016

\”Since it\’s made from trash, it\’s cheap to produce.\” This is the primary misconception faced by everyone involved in upcycling. From the outside, it isn\’t obvious how difficult it is to obtain and repurpose waste. Therefore, I asked designers and artisans how they procure their materials, how they process them, and what difficulties they encounter.

So far, we have learned why upcycling initiatives shouldn\’t be compared to social or educational ones, who handles transforming waste into accessories and furniture in Romania, and how similar businesses operate abroad. In this episode, we will try to understand the specific aspects that upcycling project initiators must manage compared to traditional businesses.

Identifying Raw Materials: A Difficult Task

When making an object from waste, you eliminate the cost of raw materials from the start. That’s what almost anyone who has never dealt with upcycling would think. This statement is entirely wrong. That is because said waste does not simply come to you.

It must first be identified, which is not always an easy task. Andreea Zaharescu (from Upside Down), for example, has difficulty procuring truck tarpaulins. However, she has managed to optimize the flow for advertising banners. Those at remesh can also secure their raw materials without major issues, given the significant advertising turnover in Bucharest. It is harder, however, for Bogdan Neagu (founder of Turific), who, having a mostly solo business, lacks access to the waste of large companies.

Other business initiators adapt according to what they find on the \”waste market.\” Reciclare Creativă is an example of this; they had to source specific waste for unique projects, such as a boat made from PET bottles. Britta (Bolsos Berlin) also adapts to the raw materials she obtains. When I visited her, she had a fire hose she was trying to find the best use for. However, there have been times when she wanted a specific product and searched for the right material.

The team at Wood be nice takes materials either as donations or buys them from flea markets. Daniel jokes that they are like \”two old geezers\” with a basement full of seemingly useless things. You get the same feeling in the El Reinventor workshop. Daniel ends up buying very few new elements, such as the electrical wiring for lamps. However, when he has specific orders, he is forced to track down materials.

Those at QUIB collect timber waste, mattress pieces, and beanbag fillings. Additionally, they need organic materials, which are essential in a circular business model. In Romania, however, these are harder to find. Consequently, they were forced to purchase them from Italy or Germany and wait up to three months for delivery. Ștefan Sava (Pink Lime) faced the same issue.

Convincing the Supplier: Sometimes an \”Impossible Mission\”

Sometimes, supplier reluctance is palpable. Ionuț Țața confesses that he has to \”work on people\’s mentality\”:

\”In discussions with companies, they say, \’Well, that scrap wood I’m recovering—I can just throw it on the fire.\’ If we reach the point where they\’d rather burn it than give it to me, it\’s very hard to convince them that I can give it a higher value than putting it in the stove.\”

When they have large orders, Adrian Ibric (Tubatect) is also forced to buy or \”beg\” for tubes. Some printers give them away without asking questions; others are reluctant, not wanting to let him make a profit from their waste. A tube can cost as much as 5 lei, plus transportation costs.

Transportation and Storage: Other Upcycling Headaches

In the case of bulky waste, transporting the raw material and the final product will always be a problem because it costs money—a lot of it. For pallets or tires, for example, which we manage to get for free for the PIMP the GARBAGE project, bringing them to the workshop is a chore.

Until recently, we didn\’t even have a space to store them. Things changed, however, thanks to the Faculty of Chemistry at the Polytechnic University and a grant from the \”Mobilizăm Excelența\” program, obtained together with the Ecoteca Association. Just as lucky are those at Reciclare Creativă. They own land in Bucharest where they are now setting up an extensible pavilion together with experts from the Technical University of Iași. They obtained the funds through the same financing program.

Among those forced to pay rent for the spaces where they process waste are Upside Down, remesh, Wood be nice, Upcycling Deluxe, Bolsos Berlin, and El Reinventor. Ștefan Sava (Pink Lime) outsources production, using the space and machinery of various factories. Regardless, obtaining a space for waste processing is only the first step in organizing production.

Processing Materials: Harder Than Traditional Methods

Daniel (Wood be nice) admits that \”it is much harder to use reclaimed wood: it doesn\’t have the same thickness, it has holes, it cracks.\” It isn\’t any easier to work with other materials they integrate into designs: tomato paste cans, beer cans, rusty pipes, etc. QUIB and Daniel from El Reinventor encounter the exact same difficulties.

Furthermore, processing banners is more difficult than traditional textiles because they are thick and they \”crumple.\” To process trash, you need tools. For Wood be nice, securing them seems to be the biggest problem. QUIB managed to fully equip their workshop through a grant, and we at PIMP the GARBAGE purchased part of the tools we need from a grant as well. Reciclare Creativă found a more efficient solution, obtaining most of their tools through a sponsorship.

Finding the Right Team: Another Upcycling Challenge

Andreea Zaharescu (Upside Down) confessed to us that it isn\’t exactly simple to find the right people. Although she currently has 10 people on the team, there has always been \”quite a high turnover.\”

Ionuț Țața (QUIB) also had trouble finding craftsmen or students interested in the circular economy, and he had to teach those he did identify how to use materials efficiently.

Collaborating with a production team proved difficult for Ștefan Sava (Pink Lime) as well. Ștefan doesn\’t make the products himself; he uses the technology and skills of employees in textile factories near Bucharest. He admits it wasn\’t exactly easy to make friends with either the collectors or the producers. He had to explain what he wanted and convince them not to delay production too much, considering he requests small quantities compared to the industrial volumes they are used to.

In any case, a team dedicated to the project is an essential step for business development, according to Adrian (Tubatect). He admits that hiring someone is a step he should have taken sooner and recommends that all entrepreneurs focus on more important things than production—like marketing, for example.

In the next two episodes, we will find out how all these entrepreneurs manage to sell their products and what they hope to achieve through their projects.