Workshop schedule: Thursday 15th September 2022 10AM-12PM UK time (1st workshop) Click here to join the meeting; and Tuesday 20th September 2022 10AM-12PM UK time (2nd workshop) Click here to join the meeting

For the collaborative investigation into the critical yet understudied area of global challenges for scaling up upcycling businesses, we are organising workshops utilising ‘Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM)’ – a qualitative and interpretive method used to generate solutions for complex problems. ISM structures various factors into a hierarchy based on the importance of the factors and also visualises the interaction between these factors to help decision-makers in tackling these factors in order. We will first understand the key global challenges, then key opportunities (or success factors) for scaling-up upcycling businesses at the international level.

The following shows the key challenges and opportunities (success factors) that will be used for the workshop (initial factors from the book chapter by Sung and Abuzeinab in 2021 and narrowed down to six each using the online questionnaire responses by the invited global experts in July-August 2022).

Key global challenges for scaling up upcycling businesses  

  1. Limitations from the materials (e.g. inconsistency, damage)
  2. Lack of facilities/equipment
  3. Time-consuming processes
  4. Consumers’ low awareness of upcycling
  5. Consumers’ negative perception of upcycled products
  6. Limited legislations, standards, and warranty

Key global opportunities (success factors) for scaling up upcycling businesses

  1. Improved material provision
  2. Targeting high-opportunity product categories
  3. Suitable technologies, techniques, and innovation in production
  4. Varied stakeholder involvement (e.g. large brands, local authorities)
  5. Involving citizens in upcycling initiatives/events
  6. Awareness-raising activities (e.g. campaign, communication, training, education)