Cradle to Cradle
by Chris Tilley
Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified Gdiapers (source Gdiapers)
Cradle to Cradle by by William McDonough and Michael Braungart is one of my favorite environmental books. They talk about redesigning products to be environmentally friendly and have a certificate program that guides companies to improvements.
One of the points of the book is the difference between recycling, downcycling and upcycling. Things that are recycled today are quite often downcycle into products that are of lesser value. An example is paper where the fibers get shorter each time it is recycled. Upcycling is when something recycled becomes something of equal or greater value.
Another point is that of waste being food, either for a biological cycle or a technological. So something that decomposes safely and provides nutrition feeds the biological cycle. The technology cycle is feed by the polymers and metals that went in to the product. That leads to the next idea or problem which is monstrous hybrids. Monstrous hybrids are materials that could have been food for either cycle but had been irrevocably contaminated. An example is the recycling of cars where the steel get mixed with other metals from the car and can not be used as steel in cars again. It is no longer strong enough and is of lesser value.
So the core idea here is to design product with their eventual end in mind thus the title ‘Cradle to Cradle’ There are now a number of products that are gold certified.(list) We are currently using gDiapers for our newborn. These are cotton outer shells with flushable or compost-able snap in liners. They are as easy to use a disposables and environmentally friendly.
Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified Gdiapers (source Gdiapers)
Another good example is Victor Innovatex a textile manufacturer. They have a gold certified polyester. Textiles are on of the most polluting industries around.
Often, the clippings from carpet or fabric mills are so loaded with dangerous chemicals they are handled like toxic waste, while the products made from these materials are considered safe for use in the home.
It is the first polyester made from and dyed with environmentally safe ingredients and can be safely recycled into polyester at the end of the products life.(source) An excellent case study to read.
There are a number of other product that meet their certification. Can you imagine a world where all the products are designed this away apposed to our current its cheaper to throw it out and buy a new one. Everything becoming food for the next generation of products
[…] First of all we need some used paper. Basically anything paper or cardboard will work torn up into small pieces. I used the paper out of our shredder. The down side to that is that when I actually made the paper I saw bits of plastic in it and realized that I shred windowed envelopes. I wonder if those windows make the envelopes a monstrous hybrid as defined in Cradle to Cradle.(Article) […]
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