What is cradle to cradle

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William McDonough » Cradle to Cradle In their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things , architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart presented an integration of design and science that provides enduring benefits for society from safe materials, water and energy in circular economies and eliminates the concept of waste.

The book put forward a design framework characterized by three principles derived from nature: Everything is a resource for something else. Close X. However, companies should not focus on being less bad, but set themselves positive goals.

An eco-effective business model aims at qualitative added value. In the natural world, the processes of each organism involved in a living system contribute to the health of the whole. The blossoms of a tree, for instance, fall to the ground, where they decompose and nourish other organisms.

The construction of products and systems is able to profitably and productively use the natural energy of the sun in many ways. Wind power, hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, and biomass are further sources of renewable energy. Natural systems work and thrive through their complexity; i. When applying this principle to our economic and value system, biological, cultural, social and conceptual diversity is promoted and context-specific solutions are favoured.

Circular economy strives to minimise negative environmental impacts through qualitative transformation coupled with the closure and deceleration of material cycles.

The service life should be optimised and prolonged. This could mean, for example, that digital services enable the sharing of technical products, achieving considerably better utilisation or even a complete replacement by digital services. So if a product obtains a platinum certification in four categories, but a bronze certification in the last category — the bronze certification tier is applied to the product as the overall Cradle to Cradle mark.

This construction stimulates sustainable materials manufacturers to aim for a high overall quality of their products. The website for the official Cradle to Cradle products program offers extensive resources regarding Cradle to Cradle certifications. Mosa tiles have a Cradle to Cradle Silver certification, based on the new 3. Exactly the use of these types of certified materials has a positive influence on the assessment of a building by green building certification systems. They earn architects points for green building labels.

If we look at green building label DGNB — one of the most authoritative and prominent green building labels in Europe; they officially recognize Cradle to Cradle tiles as certified products that contribute to their label. They even offer a navigator tool that includes recognized manufacturers of Cradle to Cradle certified materials. A big benefit for architects who select an included manufacturer: they do not have to manually submit material certificates when requesting a green building label.

If you would like to learn more about the why of green building labels like the DGNB — and how to get certified — we recommend our free whitepaper on the topic.