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5th PLATE 2023 Conference
Espoo, Finland - 31 May - 2 June 2023
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Key global challenges and opportunities for scaling up upcycling
businesses in the world: Interpretive structural modelling
workshop preliminary analysis
Amal Abuzeinab(a), Kyungeun Sung(a), Richie Moalosi(b), Ashwathy Satheesan(c), Bilkisu Garba(d),
Funto Adeh(d), Hye-Won Lim(e), Joon Sang Baek(f), Sophia N. Njeru(g)
a) De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
b) University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
c) Fractal, Bengaluru, India
d) The Upcycle Architect, Abuja, Nigeria
e) University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
f) Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
g) Kirinyaga University, Kerugoya, Kenya
Keywords: circular economy; interpretive structural modelling; scaling up; sustainable business;
upcycling.
Abstract: Upcycling is one promising approach to extending the lifetimes of products, components, and
materials by utilising a variety of material processes and innovations to turn waste products and
materials into products of higher quality or value than the compositional elements. Upcycling increases
resource efficiency and reduces solid waste and industrial energy consumption. It creates new job
opportunities for businesses and reduces costs for materials. Despite such benefits, however, upcycling
remains a niche practice. Moving from a niche to a mainstream practice (or scaling-up) could realise
the full potential of upcycling. Understanding interrelated and self-reinforcing challenges in the global
upcycling value chain is critical for scaling up global upcycling businesses. As existing studies of
upcycling are mostly industry and country-specific, the factors impacting upcycling success across
industries and countries still need to be discovered, making it difficult to establish which challenges can
be prioritised in effectively scaling up upcycling businesses internationally. This study aimed to identify
critical global challenges and opportunities for scaling up upcycling businesses worldwide. We
organised two online workshops with nine international experts in upcycling, utilising Interpretive
Structural Modelling (ISM). The preliminary analysis of the ISM workshop results showed that all global
challenges and opportunities are interlinked and that key opportunities reflect key challenges, with the
first priority intervention suggested as ‘involving citizens in upcycling initiatives or events’ followed by
‘improving material provision’.
Introduction
Upcycling is one of the promising approaches
to extending the life span of products,
components and materials by utilising various
material processes and innovations to
transform used or waste products, components
and materials into a product/material of higher
quality or value than the compositional
elements (Sung, 2017). Examples include
‘creative’ or ‘advanced’ forms of repair, reuse,
repurpose, refurbishment, upgrade, redesign,
remake, remanufacture, and recycling – within
the remit of the circular economy, an alternative
to the traditional linear economy of take, make
use, and dispose (Stahel, 2016). The extended
life span of used/waste products, components
and materials by upcycling increases resource
efficiency and reduces solid waste and
industrial energy consumption in processing
and manufacturing with virgin materials.
Upcycling also creates new job opportunities for
businesses and reduces material costs.
Despite such benefits, however, upcycling
remains a niche practice (Sung, Singh, &
Bridgens, 2021). Moving from a niche to a
mainstream practice or scaling up could lead to
the full potential of upcycling. Understanding
interrelated and self-reinforcing challenges in
the global upcycling value chain are critical for
scaling up global upcycling businesses. For
5th PLATE Conference Espoo, Finland, 31 May - 2 June 2023
Author(s),
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example, consumers’ negative perception of
upcycled products affects the demand, which
affects the price, and, therefore, sales, leading
to a limited market resulting in few available
good quality products that feedback into
consumers’ adverse perception of upcycled
goods in fashion and furniture sectors (Singh,
Sung, Cooper, West, & Mont, 2019). Existing
studies of upcycling are mostly industry and
country-specific (e.g., Cumming, 2017; Paras &
Curteza, 2018; Singh et al., 2019). The factors
impacting upcycling success across industries
and countries are largely unknown, making it
difficult to establish which challenges can be
prioritised in effectively scaling up upcycling
businesses internationally.
This study aimed to identify critical global
challenges and opportunities for scaling up
upcycling businesses worldwide. We initially
conducted a literature review to identify global
challenges and opportunities for scaling up
upcycling. We used online questionnaires to
narrow down the factors into six. Then, we
organised two online expert workshops to
prioritise the factors, further explained in detail
in the following section.
Methods
Literature review
The initial literature review to identify global
challenges and opportunities for scaling up
upcycling was conducted between February
and March 2021, resulting in nine common
categories of challenges and ten common
opportunities for successful upcycling across
industries and countries. Please find the details
in the review paper published as a book chapter
(Sung & Abuzeinab, 2021).
Online questionnaire
We created an online questionnaire from the
literature review to ask the study participants to
select up to six key global challenges and
opportunities for scaling up upcycling
businesses. The answer options provided for
global challenges were: (i) difficulty in sourcing
materials, (ii) limitations from the materials (e.g.
inconsistency, damage), (iii) lack of facilities or
equipment, (iv) time-consuming processes, (v)
limited knowledge and skills, (vi) limited good
quality products, (vii) high sale price, (viii)
difficult and expensive promotion/marketing
activities, (ix) limited, affordable space, (x)
financial constraints, (xi) limited legislation,
standards, and warranty, (xii) consumers’
negative perception of upcycled products, (xiii)
consumers’ low awareness of upcycling, and
(xiv) other.
The answer options for global opportunities
were: (i) improved material provision, (ii)
suitable technologies, techniques, and
innovation in production, (iii) targeting high-
opportunity product categories, (iv) effective
marketing, (v) support for the better
mobilisation of resources and knowledge, (vi)
financial support and incentives, (vii) varied
stakeholder involvement (e.g., large brands,
local authorities), (viii) awareness-raising
training and education for consumers, (ix)
involving citizens in upcycling initiatives or
events, (x) awareness-raising campaign and
communication, and (xi) other.
The online questionnaire was sent to 21 people
interested in participating in the study within the
International Upcycling Research Network
funded by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation)
AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council).
Out of 21 people, 14 responses (67% response
rate) were collected between July and August
2022. The respondents were nine academics
and five practitioners with expertise in upcycling
from 12 countries in five continents (Africa, Asia,
Australia, Europe, and South America). The
results showed that the majority of global
upcycling experts (minimum 50%) agreed with
six key global challenges and opportunities for
scaling up upcycling businesses (Table 1).
Key global challenges
C1. Limitations from the materials (e.g.,
inconsistency, damage)
C2. Lack of facilities/equipment
C3. Time-consuming processes
C4. Consumers’ low awareness of upcycling
C5. Consumers’ negative perception of upcycled
products
C6. Limited legislation, standards, and warranty
Key global opportunities
O1. Improved material provision
O2. Targeting high-opportunity product categories
O3. Suitable technologies, techniques, and
innovation in production
O4. Varied stakeholder involvement (e.g., large
brands, local authorities)
O5. Involving citizens in upcycling
initiatives/events
O6. Awareness-raising activities (e.g., campaign,
communication, training, education)
Table 1. Key global challenges and opportunities
for scaling up upcycling businesses
5th PLATE Conference Espoo, Finland, 31 May - 2 June 2023
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Interpretive Structural Modelling online
workshops
Using the online questionnaire results (Table
1), we prepared for the Interpretive Structural
Modelling (ISM) online workshops. ISM is a
qualitative and interpretive method used to
structure various factors into a hierarchy based
on the importance of the factors and visualise
the interaction between these factors to help
decision-makers in tackling these factors in
order (Abuzeinab, Arif & Qadri, 2017; Attri, Dev
& Sharma, 2013). Two online workshops were
organised in September 2022. The workshop
invitation was sent to the same 21 AHRC-
funded International Upcycling Research
Network members who expressed their interest
in the study participation (who also received the
online questionnaire). Nine international
experts in upcycling participated in the
workshops. They were academics and
practitioners from seven countries (Botswana,
Kenya, India, Nigeria, South Africa, South
Korea, and the UK) covering three continents
(Africa, Asia and Europe).
At the beginning of the workshop, the facilitator
explained the aim and objectives of the
workshop and procedures. The main workshop
was organised so that the facilitator presented
each factor (challenge or opportunity) with other
factors and asked the participants whether the
presented factor would influence other factors.
Individual opinions were collected, and group
agreement was sought. For data collection,
notes were taken on the main points and
agreement, and the workshops were video
recorded with the participants’ consent. The
data were analysed by developing SSIM
(Structural Similarity Index) and RM
(Reachability Matrix), and MICMAC (cross-
impact matrix multiplication applied to
classification) analysis (Nilashi, Dalvi, Ibrahim,
Zamani & Ramayah, 2019).
Results
Key global challenges
Four symbols were used to denote the direction
of the relationship between any two global
challenges (i and j):
V: challenge i will influence challenge j, but
not in both directions.
A: challenge j will influence challenge i, but
not in both directions.
X: challenge i and j will influence each
other.
O: challenge i and j are unrelated.
See Table 2 for the SSIM (Structural Similarity
Index) and Table 1 for C1 to C6.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C1
X
X
A
A
X
C2
X
A
X
X
C3
X
V
X
C4
X
X
C5
X
C6
Table 2. SSIM for global challenges
The RM (Reachability Matrix) was obtained by
converting the SSIM into a binary matrix by
substituting V, A, X, and O with 1 and 0 as per
the case. The rules for the substitution of 1s and
0s are the following:
if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is V, then the (i,
j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes
1, and the (j, i) entry becomes 0.
if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is A, then the (i,
j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes
0, and the (j, i) entry becomes 1.
if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is X, then the (i,
j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes
1, and the (j, i) entry also becomes 1.
if the (i, j) entry in the SSIM is O, then the
(i, j) entry in the reachability matrix
becomes 0 and the (j, i) entry also becomes
0.
Driving power and dependence scores are the
sums in rows and columns (Table 3).
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
Driving
power
C1
1
1
1
0
0
1
4
C2
1
1
1
0
1
1
5
C3
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
C4
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
C5
1
1
0
1
1
1
5
C6
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
Dependence
6
6
5
4
5
6
32/32
Table 3. RM matrix for global challenges
Based on the RM matrix, MICMAC analysis
classified global challenges as seen in Figure 1.
The major findings of this classification are as
follows:
The diagram indicates that no challenge
comes under an autonomous cluster.
Autonomous challenges generally appear
as weak drivers, weakly dependent and
relatively disconnected from the system.
These challenges have little influence on
other challenges of the system.
There are also no dependent challenges.
The dependent challenges mean other
challenges need to be addressed and
moved before their removal.
5th PLATE Conference Espoo, Finland, 31 May - 2 June 2023
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There were also no challenges within the
driver cluster. Driver challenges will have
strong driving power but weak dependence
power. Driver challenges need to be
addressed first and they can influence all
other challenges.
All challenges are within the linkage cluster.
Linkage challenges have a strong driving
power as well as strong dependence.
These challenges are unstable because
any action on them will affect others and
have a feedback effect on themselves.
Figure 1. MICMAC analysis for global challenges
Table 4 shows the partitioning of the RM into
different levels (iterations 1 to 3).
Challenge
Reachability
set
Antecedent
set
intersect
Intersection
set
Level
Iteration 1
C1
C1,2,3,6
C1,2,3,4,5,6
C1,2,3,6
1
st
C2
C2,1,3,5,6
C2,1,3,4,5,6
C2,1,3,5,6
1
st
C3
C3,1,2,4,5,6
C3,1,2,4,6
C3,1,2,4,6
C4
C4,1,2,3,5,6
C4,3,5,6
C4,3,5,6
C5
C5,1,2,4,6
C5,2,3,4,6
C5,2,4,6
C6
C6,1,2,3,4,5
C6,1,2,3,4,5
C6,1,2,3,4,5
1
st
Iteration 2
C3
C3,4,5
C3,4
C3,4
C4
C4,1,5
C4,3,5
C4,5
C5
C5,4
C5,3,4
C5,4
2
nd
Iteration 3
C3
C3,4
C3,4
C3,4
3
rd
C4
C4,1
C4,3
C4
Table 4. RM into levels for global challenges
From the analyses including the levels
determined, the ISM model was developed for
global challenges (Figure 2). The model shows
that all the challenges are interlinked – arrow
directions denoted the relationship. The model
was structured on four levels. At the base of the
structure, ‘consumers’ low awareness of
upcycling’ will need to be addressed before
moving up to level 3 (C3: ‘time-consuming
processes’) and level 2 (C5: ‘consumers’
negative perception of upcycled products’).
Three challenges at the top of the structure (C1:
‘limitations from the materials’, C2: ‘lack of
facilities/equipment’, and C6: ‘limited
legislation, standards, and warranty’) can be
addressed at the end.
Figure 2. ISM model for global challenges
Key global opportunities
SSIM for global opportunities was developed
using the same approach for global challenges
(Table 5). See Table 1 for O1 to O6. Then, the
RM was obtained using the same approach for
global challenges (Table 6).
O1
O2
O3
O4
O5
O6
O1
V
X
X
X
X
O2
X
X
X
A
O3
X
A
A
O4
X
X
O5
X
O6
Table 5. SSIM for global opportunities
O1
O2
O3
O4
O5
O6
Driving
power
O1
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
O2
0
1
1
1
1
0
4
O3
1
1
1
1
0
0
4
O4
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
O5
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
O6
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
Dependence
5
6
6
6
5
4
32/32
Table 6. RM matrix for global opportunities
MICMAC analysis based on the RM matrix
classified global opportunities (Figure 3). There
5th PLATE Conference Espoo, Finland, 31 May - 2 June 2023
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are no autonomous, dependent or driver
opportunities; all the opportunities are within the
linkage cluster (just like challenges), showing
strong driving power as well as strong
dependence.
Figure 3. MICMAC analysis for global
opportunities
Table 7 shows the partitioning of the RM into
different levels (iterations 1 and 2), from this,
the ISM model was developed for global
opportunities (Figure 4).
Challenge
Reachability
set
Antecedent
set intersect
Intersection
set
Level
Iteration 1
O1
O1,2,3,4,5,6
O1,3,4,5,6
O1,3,4,5,6
O2
O2,3,4,5
O2,1,3,4,5,6
O2,3,4,5
1st
O3
O3,1,2,4
O3,1,2,4,5,6
O3,1,2,4
1
st
O4
O4,1,2,3,5,6
O4,1,2,3,5,6
O4,1,2,3,5,6
1
st
O5
O5,1,2,3,4,6
O5,2,4,6
O5,2,4
O6
O6,1,2,3,4,5
O6,1,4,5
O6,1,4,5
Iteration 2
O1
O1,5,6
O1,5,6
O1,5,6
2
nd
O5
O5,1,6
O5,6
O5,6
3
rd
O6
O6,1,5
O6,1,5
O6,1,5
2
nd
Table 7. RM into levels for global opportunities
The model (Figure 4) shows that all the
opportunities are interlinked (relationships
indicated with the arrow directions). The model
was structured on three levels. At the base of
the structure, O5: ‘involving citizens for
upcycling initiatives/events’ will need to be
prioritised at the start before moving up to level
2 (O1: ‘improved material provision’ and O6:
‘awareness-raising activities’) and then level 1
(O2: ‘targeting high-opportunity product
categories’, O3: ‘suitable technologies,
techniques, and innovation in production’, O4:
‘varied stakeholder involvement’).
Figure 4. ISM model for global opportunities
Discussion and conclusions
The results showed that all key global
challenges and opportunities are interlinked
(within the category) and that key opportunities
reflect key challenges. For example, the most
important opportunity was ‘involving citizens in
upcycling initiatives/events’ (Level 3 in Figure 4)
when the most important challenge appeared to
be ‘consumers’ low awareness of upcycling’
(Level 4 in Figure 2). Although, this is still a
preliminary analysis result based on the
contributions by the nine international experts
within the AHRC-funded International
Upcycling Research Network. We are
organising the third ISM workshop in person
during the PLATE (Product Lifetimes And The
Environment) Conference 2023. The third
workshop involving other global experts in
sustainable production and consumption
(outside the network project) will validate these
findings. As a limitation of this study, we are
aware that the approach we used (bundling all
data) does not necessarily reflect different
contexts. Our approach also does not allow
comparative analysis between different
countries or continents. But the main point of
this study is to identify the key global challenges
and opportunities regardless of contextual
differences.
Assuming that these results are more or less
correct, the following practical implications
could be derived. As both ISM models showed
(Figures 2 and 4), the first priority action as an
intervention for scaling up global upcycling
businesses should be ‘involving citizens in
upcycling initiatives and events for awareness
raising including campaign, communication,
training and education’ (Levels 2 and 3 in ISM
model for global opportunities) in order to
5th PLATE Conference Espoo, Finland, 31 May - 2 June 2023
Author(s),
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address ‘consumers’ low awareness of
upcycling’ and ‘consumers’ negative perception
of upcycled products’ (Levels 2 and 4 in ISM
model for global challenges). The second
priority interventions could be ‘improving
material provision’ (Level 2 in Figure 4) and
addressing ‘time-consuming processes’ (Level
3 in Figure 2) by ‘suitable technologies,
techniques, and innovation in production’ (Level
1 in Figure 4).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the AHRC
Research Networking grant for International
Upcycling Research Network [grant number
AH/W007134/1] and the generous staff
innovation allowance from De Montfort
University (DMU). The DMU Faculty (Arts,
Design and Humanities) Enhancing Research
Culture fund also partially supported the
conference attendance. We thank Guy
Bingham, Stuart Lawson, Kelley Wilder, Kate
Cheyne, Siobhan Keenan, Deborah Cartmell
and Heather McLaughlin for supporting this
research at DMU.
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