I think everyone colloquially understands “recycling” to mean reuse of an item generally. I understand what you’re saying about the concept of “upcycling”, and maybe that is a useful distinction in some fields or contexts, but that distinction is so fine that I don’t think the term “upcycling” as a specific kind of recycling is ever going to enter into the public consciousness. I think this is really a case of “stop trying to make upcycle happen. It’s not going to happen”.
I mean, just look at this:
