Short 'product lives' and disposable packaging result in premature disposal of valuable resources. Industrialisation, mass production and global supply chains have resulted in a disconnect between people, places, materials and design. Upcycling is reuse of discarded materials which results in an increase in 'value'. We discuss the potential for creative upcycling to reconnect people with materials and establish cultures and communities of making. The reaction of the public to creative reuse is explored by creating a café structure made entirely from recycled materials, and this provides the starting point to consider the contexts in which upcycling occurs, the motivations for (and barriers to) reuse and upcycling, the potential benefits of upcycling in the context of affluent Western 'consumer' societies, and the scope for designers to imbue objects with the potential for creative reuse. We argue that designing to enable creative upcycling allows the future lives of objects to be contingent on context and culture, rather than being prescribed by the designer, with potential for widespread social, economic and environmental benefits.
Maintaining sufficient soil phosphorus (P) levels for non-limiting crop growth is challenging in organic systems since off-farm inputs of P are restricted. This study assessed the status of P on organic farms in Europe using soil test results for extractable P. Data was obtained from published literature, unpublished theses, and various national and regional databases of soil test values. Most of the data (15,506 observations) came from field scale soil tests, but in some cases (1272 observations) values had been averaged across a farm. Farm scale and field scale data were analysed separately and the impact of farm type (arable, dairy, grassland, horticulture, mixed, poultry, unknown) was assessed. Soil test results were assigned to P classes from very low (P class 1) to very high (P class 5). The farm scale data came primarily from Norway, Sweden and Switzerland and did not indicate deficiencies in extractable P; 93% of farms fell into class 3 or above. The majority of the field scale data came from Germany and indicated 123Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2018) 110:227-239 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-017-9894-2 sufficient or higher levels of P availability for arable and grassland systems on 60% of fields; the remaining fields had low or very low available P. Adaptations in organic systems may improve P uptake and utilization efficiency allowing yields to be maintained in the short-term, nevertheless there is cause for concern about the long-term P sustainability of some organic farming systems in Europe. This highlights the need to reassess allowable P inputs in organic farming systems to improve overall sustainability.
Wood represents the single most important source of renewable energy worldwide and depending on the mechanism of energy production can lead to the production of by-products with vastly different properties (i.e. wood ash (WA) from incineration and biochar (BC) from pyrolysis). These are typically applied to land, however, a critical comparison of their impact on soil quality and carbon (C) cycling is lacking. To address this, we generated biochar (450°C) and wood ash (870°C) from the same mixed hardwood feedstock and added it to an agricultural grassland at comparable rates under both laboratory and field conditions (10 t ha-1 and 571 kg ha-1 for BC and WA, respectively). We hypothesized that alkaline, nutrient-rich wood ash would stimulate microbial activity, resulting in the loss of soil organic matter (SOM), while biochar which is recalcitrant to microbial attack would promote the stabilization of native SOM. The effects on the soil microbial community and soil C and N cycling were determined over 1 year. Overall, biochar promoted soil quality by enhancing nutrient availability (P and K), moisture retention and increasing soil C content. However, it was also associated with an increase in below-ground CO2 loss. As plant productivity was unaffected and laboratory incubations of biochar with 14 C-labeled SOM showed no indication of priming, we deduce that this CO2 originates from the biochar itself. This is supported by the lack of effect of biochar on soil N cycling, microbial biomass and community structure. Wood ash had almost no effect on either soil quality or vegetation quality (yield and foliar nutrient content) under field conditions but did induce negative SOM priming under both laboratory and field conditions. We conclude that when applied at field-relevant rates, neither amendment had a detrimental effect on native SOM cycling. While wood ash promotes the retention of native SOM, biochar may be a better strategy for enhancing SOM levels because of its intrinsic recalcitrant character, however, this needs to be offset against the reduced amount of energy derived from pyrolysis in comparison to incineration.
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