Cradle-to-Cradle

Cradle-to-cradle (C2C) is based on the principle that the whole life cycle of products and services needs to be redesigned so that every waste is a raw material for another round of production, service, or use. It aims to create systems that are both ecoefficient and waste-free, and can be been applied to industrial designs and manufacturing as well as urban environments, buildings, economics, and social systems.

Any production process will produce some waste, and traditionally most of this waste has ended up in landfills. “Cradle-to-grave” is a process by which companies take responsibility for the disposal of the goods they produce (usually as a waste product of the production process), but the waste is not necessarily reused or recycled. Not much thought is given to whether the waste can be used by another industry or company, where it could be an ingredient or material for production of their goods. In the terms of a life cycle analysis, cradle-to-grave describes the entire life of a material until the time it is disposed of. Consequently, the environmental problems associated with disposal, particularly in regards to landfills and waste incineration, are not dealt with by the cradle-to-grave process.

It is therefore essential to view the life cycle in terms of cradle-to-cradle, and to consider the best way to dispose of the end product when no longer required. The term cradle-to-cradle was invented by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970s, but it did not become popular until the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, was published in 2002. Stahel stressed the importance of using the holistic approach, as well as the economic, ecological, and social advantages of a closed-loop economy.

McDonough and Braungart argued that the cradle-to-cradle practice requires a complete turnaround in thinking in some cases—just as when we are driving to a certain destination and we realize that we are going on a wrong path, slowing down does not correct the path. We need to return to a certain point to continue our journey. Similarly, we need a completely different model for dealing with waste.

[Page 123]Cradle-to-cradle design often involves referring to nature for inspiration, where one organism's waste is food for another, and nutrients flow indefinitely in cycles of birth, decay, and rebirth. The biological metabolism in ecosystems can be mirrored in the technological systems they design, so that there is a closed loop in which valuable resources move in cycles of production, use, recovery, and remanufacture.

In the cradle-to-cradle model, all materials used in industrial/manufacturing processes (such as creating metals, fibers, and dyes) fall into two main categories: technical or biological nutrients. Technical nutrients are restricted to nontoxic, nonharmful synthetic materials that do not have a negative impact on the environment and can be used in continuous cycles as the same product without losing their integrity or quality. Biological nutrients consist mainly of organic materials that can be easily disposed of in any natural environment to decompose into the soil.

Zero-waste plans focus on reducing waste and reusing products, followed by recycling and composting through methods such as this waste bin in Nevada

Source: Nevada Division of Environmental Protection/Bureau of Waste

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