Upcycle Your Waste

Upcycling takes your waste and turns it into something better. It’s more energy efficient than recycling: rather than breaking down the object, and starting from scratch, upcycling takes your object, and improves it. So your waste becomes something which is worth more: better for the planet, and better for your bank balance.

Norwich BID are working with Small & Medium Enterprises from across the city to build a circular economy in Norwich. ‘Upcycle your Waste’ is designed to take waste produced by Norwich businesses, and turn it into new resources. This is an EU initiative, and free to all participating businesses – giving your business the opportunity to save money on waste costs, and reduce the waste it sends to landfill.

If your business generates waste, we need you!

In 2020, we conducted audits of over 250 companies operating in Norwich, to find out what was going on in our bins. The results were staggering:

  • 1.25 tonnes of coffee grounds every single month.
  • Hundreds of pieces of plastic and polythene waste, daily.
  • And monthly, over 50 tonnes of food waste.
  • On top of that, dozens of other types of waste that could be working harder for people and planet.

What is the Exchange?

Like many businesses, you’re probably doing everything you can to reduce your waste, reuse what you can – and recycle what you can’t.

Upcycling goes further than conventional recycling by creating something new with materials that would have otherwise been throw away. We want businesses to start thinking differently about where they source raw materials, and to question whether the things they’re throwing away are really, definitely “rubbish”.

We’re building a community where dozens of Norwich businesses are creating new and exciting products, and doing so using the smallest possible number of virgin resources. Where dozens more can reduce their impact on the environment by better understanding their waste.