Fair Fashion Tour

Cradle to Cradle – A New Industrial Revolution?

I finish off my Acai-Blueberry-Pomegranate VitaminWater, walk to the nearest recycling container and place the plastic bottle inside. I pat myself on the back as I walk away, knowing that I have done something responsible for the planet. Or have I? When considering that we recycle only about 28% of what we could, and 90% of consumer products in the U.S. end up in the landfill within six months, I might have to reconsider buying a drink in a plastic bottle in the first place.

According to William McDonough, architect, designer, and author known for his work in sustainability, I have not recycled the bottle – I have downcycled it. Although it may morph into one lower-quality plastic product, eventually the result will be the same – it will end up as trash in the landfill. Is there a different choice? Can we revolutionize the way we make things to avoid a linear cradle-to-grave lifecycle, instead contributing to a cycle of continual reuse?

According to some, like Stef Kranendijk of leading European carpet and artificial grass manufacturer Desso, we must look at raw materials in terms of their intrinsic value as resources in a continuous cycle. He says, “At the end of that product’s useful life, they can be taken apart and recycled – or ‘up-cycled’ into products that may have a value and sophistication beyond that of their original use.” This is what Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is all about.

William McDonough and environmental chemist Michael Braungart have been working together since 1991 to alter the cradle-to-grave design standard for everything from products to processes. Rather than doing something in a way that is “less bad,” such as downcycling, these innovators are seeking to implement a C2C philosophy worldwide that ensures quality, recyclability and safety into the product at the beginning of its lifecycle so that products never end up as waste. They insist that we can transform industry through ecologically-intelligent design from the beginning rather than assessing the ecological, social and economic bottom-line fallout at the end of the life cycle.

Crowned “Heroes of the Environment” by Time Magazine in 2007, they have begun to tackle questions such as, “What if we eliminated waste and toxins from products to restore air, water and soil through design?” “What if we could create products, supply chains and manufacturing processes that would turn waste into either technical nutrients that would be recycled over and over, or biological nutrients that would enrich the soil?” And perhaps most pressing, the bottom-line question: “Can we make this a profitable way of doing business?” The answers to these questions, as proven by Shaw Industries, Nike and Ford are a resounding “We can!”

These companies and others have begun the arduous task of reinventing the way they make things, including looking at building sites as a “community” in which they provide a healthy and safe environment for their workers while respecting and incorporating the surrounding environment. To this end, Ford restored its 1,100-acre brownfield site in Dearborn, Michigan. The car company’s new goal was “maximize economic, social and environmental value with every design decision.” Says Chairman Bill Ford, current Ford Chairman, “This is not environmental philanthropy; it is sound business, which for the first time, balances the business needs of auto manufacturing with ecological and social concerns.” The unique and innovative solutions they implemented – including the world’s largest living roof, which manages storm water runoff and reduces energy costs by 7% – provided a healthy working space inside the factory, but also had an extremely positive effect on the surrounding landscape, soil, fauna and Rouge River.

Nike implemented a “Considered Design” program in 2005, initiating a “closed loop” manufacturing process that reduces waste, eliminates toxins, and uses planet-friendly materials. They measured their environmental footprint across all processes and created a “Considered Index” which measures the effect of the changes they make. In addition, their Environmental Apparel Design Toolmakes designers aware of the environmental impact of their design choices in real-time so that changes can be made up front. As a way to increase awareness in other companies, Nike has made this tool available to others at no charge – a sign of their commitment to improve not only their business but others as well.

In another success story, Shaw Carpeting implemented the C2C framework in their goal to keep synthetic fibers out of the landfill in a project they call “Evergreen Nylon Recycling.” Their facility in Augusta, Georgia recycles Nylon 6 carpets back into raw material, which is then used to make new carpets. Waste actually fuels their next generation of products! Due to their 50 collection sites and recycling centers, they have kept over 100 million pounds of used carpeting out of the landfill and back into the manufacturing cycle.

Are there issues with Cradle to Cradle? As with any major change that requires not only a different way of thinking but a change in behavior, it will require dedication and commitment by participants in the entire process. Desso’s C2C brochure notes, “Achieving a Cradle to Cradle product is a challenging task. For example, certain instances require the development of entirely new technology. It must therefore be viewed not as immediately achievable, but as an ongoing process of development and improvement.”

Collaboration must be elicited from all parties: designers must commit to a new way of designing their products and planning their deconstruction; suppliers must certify that their components meet the new standards; vendors must become part of the sell/recycle process; manufacturers must ensure that the entire process meets the framework, and must track their success. In the end, consumers must educate themselves about the ideas and commit to buying and recycling C2C-certified products to make it all work.

The soldiers in this march are seizing a hopeful and optimistic vision of reinventing our future. At this year’s Cradle to Cradle Festivalin Berlin, over 6000 attendees spoke of their progress in implementing the framework into their own organizations, or sought to educate themselves for the future. Believers are changing the way they design products and processes from the beginning, using eco-friendly materials, lessening the impact on water, soil, humans and nature by getting rid of toxins, closing the manufacturing loop, and committing to implementing the framework over product lines. McDonough and Braungart’s vision of mimicking nature’s cycle – from seed to growth to death, decay and renewed growth – generates positive effects on the planet and may be the most important work of the century.Written by :