Yesterday was National Upcycling Day, and here we are, upcycling yesterday’s awareness day. Seems like good timing, as our Vial Amnesty draws to a close.

No, we’re not turning old sample vials into bird feeders or fairy lights. We’re simply reusing them. But it’s the same idea really. We want to stop perfectly good things from sitting unused in drawers, only to be thrown out later.

And no, we don’t sell them, that would be illegal. We clean them up and give them away, so they can have another life and because we really don’t like waste. 

Every day seems to be an awareness day for something or other. Why not - there’s plenty to be aware of. But we especially like this one. The idea that things most people would write off as rubbish might still have a use, and could even stop a whole other thing from being made, is one we really like.

Most of us, at some point, made rockets or castles out of toilet roll tubes. Primitive upcycling, maybe, but it planted the seed. If only we all stuck to it rather than drifting towards the easier and often less interesting option of convenience.

Thankfully, an awful lot of us are becoming aware that natural resources aren’t endless, and that the processes we use to turn them into things are often harmful. Long-term damage, hidden cruelty, and pollution we can’t take back.

Recently, there’s been a revival of people interested in fixing things. Keeping them going longer or making them into something else. There are businesses doing it too.

Some big businesses and initiatives are investing time and resources into creating circular models, where waste from one industry becomes raw material for another. Materials such as Piñatex, made from pineapple leaf fibre, recycled rubber from tyres, reclaimed ocean plastics, post-industrial textile scraps, and even grape skins, apple pulp, and coffee grounds have all found new uses.

There’s also a welcome move towards designing with the end in mind. Thinking about how something will come apart. Whether it will break down, biodegrade, or just linger.

All these efforts, from fixing and repurposing to using industry leftovers, are about finding new life in what might otherwise be discarded. That’s what upcycling is really about: taking something already made and giving it a fresh purpose, without breaking it down into raw materials first.

Recycling is good, if done properly, but upcycling is usually better. It’s more imaginative. Less industrial. It’s about preserving what’s already there and giving it new meaning. It extends life, rather than starting again.

And it doesn’t have to be a big statement. Sometimes it’s just quietly deciding to use what’s already there. National Upcycling Day is a good reminder that resourcefulness and good design aren’t opposites, and that a thing doesn’t need to be brand new to be worth keeping.

So if we can reuse or upcycle what we’ve already got, it seems a bit mad not to.

Which brings us back to the vials. If you’ve got any 2ml 4160Tuesdays samples you’re not using, the Vial Amnesty runs until 30th June. After that, we’ll gather them up, clean them out, and send them off to new homes. Less waste and more perfume for everyone. That’s the idea.