Urban Upcycle is all about working, living, playing and celebrating sustainability!
Working hard to provide a clean waste collection service to both businesses and households, Angela Lord and Nicole Urbanski re-purpose waste items into art and craft supplies. The community ie. schools, kindergartens, childcare centres and the public is provided access to these items through the retail store for further use in crafting and education. Through this process, plus additional services such as educational visits, crafting sessions, parties, events and school holiday programs, Urban Upcycle strives to increase awareness of the importance of reducing, reusing, re-purposing, recycling and upcycling.
Urban Upcycle consists of sisters Nicole Urbanski and Angel Lord along with the help of their mum LeeAllan and a few other amazing people. Combining a working background in the waste industry with an experienced secondary school teacher, this is where Urban Upcycle came to life. With the inspiration to start a business coming from the realisation that there was a need for education within the community, especially among children to create a sustainable environment. Both sisters having young children of their own, a combined passion for the environment and educating children, helped to bring the realisation that there is such an importance of taking care of the planet and its future – from here Urban Upcycle was born.
Working hard and just having completed their third year in business, the girls are looking stronger than ever. When asked “what do you love about your job?” Nicole is quick to respond with “educating children would be my favourite part of the business. Watching them create a new life from old items and seeing the proud look on the children’s faces when they’ve completed their creation. It brings me pure joy.” Nicole openly says that she is lucky enough to be part of a business, where she is providing opportunities for children to create memories with their friends, parents, grandparents and carers. To top it off, knowing that they are potentially making a positive environmental impact and influencing children’s lives and their future habits, whether it is big or small is extremely satisfying.
Nicole admits that she feels guilty calling her job a ‘job’ as she has so much fun! Admitting there is always shelves to be stacked and stock to be sorted, there are also new people to meet all day every day, plus catch ups with their regular customers. The projects that the girls get are the opportunity to use ordinary, everyday objects that transform into something extraordinary. Often working on craft ideas and making prototypes for shopping centres and holidays parts that they visits, no two days are ever the same!
When asked about what is planned for the future of Urban Upcycle, the first thing the girls are looking to do is increase their floor space which means more onsite crafting areas for their customers… watch this space!
To find out more about Urban Upcycle, following the link: https://www.urbanupcycle.com.au/ or drop in to see Angela and Nicole at 7/147 Marshalltown Road, Grovedale (behind BBQs Galore)
ph. 52 445 818 OR 0434 832 391