"from Cradle to Cradle" - New concept of eco friendly production

Have found yet a

Have found a bit more critical opinion about the "Cradle to Cradle" Concept and like to share it with you.

Best Greetings, Regina

http://www.braungart.com/PDFs/35821%20C2C%20is%20a%20Marketing%20Concept_Artikel.pdf

Design the technology to be smart and we will

be able to consume endlessly and continually

make profits – with a clear conscience. That is

the message that architect, McDonough, and

chemist, Braungart, propagate in their book

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make

Things (2002). Consumption is not a problem;

it is even a part of the solution. Provided the

production cycle is designed such that the

residues can always be fully recycled, or are a

high-quality raw material for another production

cycle. If this is the case, waste is food.

C2C touches a nerve. Braungart and

McDonough are called in worldwide to give

advice on urban planning, the (re)development

of factory sites and production processes and

the design of new materials that are suitable for

bio and techno-recycling. Companies such as

Ford, Nike, Herman Miller Inc., BASF, DesignTex,

Pendleton and Volvo have accepted the philosophy

with open arms. Students at the design

academies think the world of C2C.

There is also criticism of C2C, though. Space

and raw materials are not infinite and therefore

growth cannot be either, is the sceptic response.

C2C talks of the reuse of materials but all those

items have to be transported and reassembled

causing the irrevocable loss of energy.

Or: C2C promises a ‘technological fix’ whilst a

true remedy implicates another, more sober

lifestyle. For the critics that fact remains

‘comfortably behind the scenes’.

Braungart defends himself by saying that he

doesn‘t have all the answers; he chiefly wants to

provide inspiration. And he certainly succeeds

in that. Ever since the Tegenlicht documentary

‘Afval is Voedsel (Waste is Food)’ was shown

on Dutch television in October 2006, C2C

has been hot in the Netherlands. The municipality

of Almere wants to build 60,000 houses

in accordance with C2C principles and the

Floriade (an international exhibition of flowers

and gardening) to be held in Venlo in 2012

will be completely ‘C2C proof’. His ideas have

caught on so successfully in the Netherlands

that B

raungart is going to concentrate his scientific

and business activities in this country. “Akzo

Nobel, AVR-Van Gansewinkel, Desso tapijt, DSM,

Nike Europe, Philips and even Dutch ministries

and municipalities want to get to work with

Cradle to Cradle. I am going to give up all my

obligations in Germany and America for this.”,

Braungart said in the spring 2008 edition of Flow

Journal. This summer B

raungart will be opening

an auxiliary branch of his Hamburg company,

the Environmental Protection Encouragement

Agency (EPEA) in Venlo. He has also accepted

a chair at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

>

Post peak you-name-it, landfill-to-cradle, too, probably will be important.  Until TSHTF, cradle-to-cradle buys time and public approval, like energy efficiency does, in some quarters.