Upcycling: How our Shepherds are Pushing the Boundaries of Sustainable Design

It is said that one persons trash is another person’s treasure, and it’s never been more true when it comes to upcycling, where waste is converted into new products that are superior to the original.

This differs from traditional recycling, which involves taking consumer waste (usually plastic, paper, metal or glass) and breaking it down before turning it into a reusable product. The conventional environmental trope of reduce, reuse, recycle has evolved into upcycle, repurpose, reuse — bringing a second life to products or materials that would have otherwise been discarded.

Upcycling can be traced to early humans

The history of upcycling can be traced back to early humans, when the reuse and “upcycling” of materials and products was an essential part of life. The idea was taken mainstream when architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart published the book “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things”, in 2002.

The book was printed with soy-based ink on plastic pages and the ink could be removed, allowing another book to be printed on the pages or the plastic to be upcycled inot an equalor higher product. In order to achieve sustainability in the face of the global trash epidemic. limited resources, and other environmental challenges, McDonough and Braungart called on desighners and innovators across industries to remake the way we make things.

Our mission at the Rio Milagro Foundation is to spearhead fresh and inventive strategies to maximize the potential of churro sheep. These diminutive sheep, often underestimated because of their coarse, lengthy wool, encounter obstacles within the modern industrialized environment. One approach we are employing involves highlighting how the churro sheep can help address climate issues by leveraging its special adaptations to thrive in hotter, drier conditions. This innovative method transforms a once overlooked primitive sheep into a valuable and essential asset in sustainability efforts.

Discovering a significant purpose for a landrace that has long been perceived as inferior and without value for a century and a half exemplifies the pinnacle of upcycling ingenuity. To use the sheep in innovative ways that help the environment transforms their meaning. This is what we are doing at Rio Milagro, using their wool and unique adaptive traits in new and innovative ways.