Resource: Cradle to Cradle Principles

Title:	Cradle to Cradle Principles
Resource type:	Principles
Topics:	Agriculture, Business, Ecosystems, Education, Energy, Statewide/Global, Water
Keywords:	eco-industrial park, industrial ecology, ecological economics, natural capitalism, material cycles
Audience:	All
Region:	Minnesota Statewide, Outside Minnesota
Summary:	A new approach to industry and society based on nature's cycles and sustainable design that will move beyond the current paradigm of eco-efficiency.
Content:	Architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart have fundamentally reconceived material design, proposing an "eco-effective" approach. While eco-efficiency seeks to "do more with less" through a combination of the three Rs -- reduce, reuse, recycle -- McDonough and Braungart argue that it is not a strategy for success in the long term, because it does not reach deeply enough and adequately change our industrial system. They suggest that since eco-efficiency continues to work within the same system that caused the problems of pollution and resource depletion in the first place, it will result in only slowing down these processes to some extent without resolving the underlying causes of these problems. Reshaping human industry into the "Next Industrial Revolution" can lead to a resolution of the conflict between industry and the environment through a different design paradigm based on nature's cycles. Three principles of the Next Industrial Revolution are offered: "Waste equals food, respect diversity and use solar energy." Non-product output and products at the end of their useful lives (what society now considers waste) should be designed to be either biological nutrients (ultimately compostable) or technical nutrients (such as metals, which must be kept in separate reuse cycles so as not to contaminate compostables). Products containing technical nutrients lend themselves well to being leased "products of service" (such as Interface Corporation's leased carpet squares) so that the individual nutrients can be kept in high quality reuse cycles (rather than, for example, being "downcycled," as high quality plastic is today into things like flower pots). "Respecting diversity" promotes design that builds off the regional, cultural and material uniqueness of the specific place to build resiliency into geographic regions. Goals are to use local materials and fit into local ecosystems, and to maximize ecologic diversity, social diversity, and the diversity of business types. "Use solar energy" means reorienting society to use current solar income, rather than depleting the world's stored capital of fossil fuels and then not have developed a society that can exist only on current social inputs. The new industrial paradigm takes into account explicitly concerns of equity, economy, and ecology. The authors provide examples and easy-to-understand explanations, and believe that adopting the principles of the Next Industrial Revolution will lead to an industry that is regenerative rather than depleting, and to products that work within cradle-to-cradle (C2C) life cycles rather than cradle-to-grave cycles. To see and use elements of the cradle-to-cradle design protocol, developed by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC: http://www.mbdc.com), including, over time, a Chemical Profiles Knowledge Base -- a database of chemicals that have been screened and profiled in accordance with the protocol -- see the GreenBlue web site at http://www.greenblue.org In 2005 MBDC launched Cradle to Cradle Certification. A manufacturer can submit a homogenous or simple product to MBDC for review of its health impacts and potential for being safely composted or truly recycled. A successful candidate within this track is certified as a biological or technical nutrient. A manufacturer can also submit a product with multiple material components for evaluation of health impacts; ability to be disassembled so constituent parts can decompose or be reused; quantity and source of production energy; amount of water used during manufacture, and quality of wastewater; and the company's commitment to social justice. A product within this second track may earn a silver, gold, or platinum rating.
Suggested by:	Philipp Muessig
Added:	02/5/01
Updated:	01/6/10