What’s a word or short phrase for the following? An object, person, animal or something else that is thrown aside because of its uselessness but picked up by some others and it's being used for the opposite purpose it was meant for.
I can only think of the noun 'frippery', 'kamikaze' or 'a materialistic thing that's irrelevant' but I'm not sure. Thank you!
For objects, the term for the process is upcycling:
Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality and environmental value.
Note that upcycling has a positive connotation. Depending on your context it might work better to use an adjective: e.g. upcycled materials.
Co-opt is probably as close as you get in English.
divert to or use in a role different from the usual or original one.
"social scientists were co-opted to work with the development agencies"
Oxford Dictionary online:co-opt
But this lacks the discarded part. Usually, whatever was co-opted was filched, more or less.
