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Last Thursday I was a guest on a radio program on the national TRT (Turkish Radio Television) Radio Channel 1, called “Atık Servettir – Waste is Treasure”.  And we talked about a very important design and production approach called “Cradle to Cradle – Beşikten Beşiğe”. This is a concept that gives me hope and inspiration for the future.

The term ‘cradle to cradle’ had been used to define circular economies in the 1970s and 1980s. However, the term became famous with the book titled “Cradle to Cradle” which was published in 2002. The authors are William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

William McDonough is a famous architect and designer. He was the Dean of Architecture at The University of Virginia. In 1996 he received The Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, which is considered to be the most important awards in the US and in 2003 The Presidential Green Challenge Chemistry Award. McDonough was also chosen ‘hero of the planet’ by Time magazine in 1999.

Michael Braungart is an ecological chemist, who is one of the founders of the Green Party in Germany and who also used to work for the chemistry department of Greenpeace. Braungart was a professor at The University of Lüneburg and is currently a professor at The Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

The book Cradle to Cradle caught a lot of attention around the world and started a quiet and powerful industrial revolution first in the US and around the world. As of today the book has been translated to eight languages – German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

The Cradle to Cradle approach has spread all over the world. Netherlands and China have taken the approach to heart and have made it their national policy. Especially in Holland, the public awareness of environmental issues is quite high and many producers are involved in designing products through the cradle to cradle circular production system. China is designing new cities with this approach.

What Is Different About This Approach?

In a cradle to cradle system, all materials used in production must be safe for humans and nature. At the end of the useful life of a product, all of the materials in a product need to be disessambled easily and need to be totally reusable or biodegrable. The production system should not create waste neither in production nor in the product. The production system should be socially clean meaning that there should be no child labor in production, the prices of the products should be fair. Also renewable energy resources should be used in production. Water resources should also be preserved.

Michael Braungart says “Develop things that are not ‘less bad’ but good.” In the cradle to cradle approach raw materials are chosen from totally safe materials. McDonough and Braungart had worked on the redesign of a textile factory in Switzerland in 1990s. The factory was faced with polution problems. Braungart redesigned all of the product line with totally safe fibers and dyes. This took a lot of effort since of the 1600 dyes they looked into for production, only 16 of them were totally safe for humans and the environment. Although the work took a lot of effort, at the end, the water that left the factory was cleaner than the water that entered the production system.

McDonough and Braungart believe that in order to solve the environmental issues of our days, the world needs a design revolution and that we need to reinvent the way we live and the way we produce things.

The duo have a consulting company and they give cradle to cradle certification to products that have been produced with this sustainable production approach. The product and the production system needs to be totally safe for humans and nature to be able to receive certification.

There are about 600 products that were able to receive cradle to cradle certificaiton and some 3000 products seem to be waiting in line.  There are also regions in Holland and cities in China that work to be cradle to cradle regions and cities.

What are the principles?

Let’s look at some of the cradle to cradle principles:

-          All energies used should be renewable and should make use of solar energy.

-          In buildings and in production facilities naturally lighting should be available.

-          Buildings should respect the people living in them.

-          Waste = Food   :  This is the main principle of the cradle to cradle approach. When a product comes to the end of its useful life, the product should go into either biosphere, the soil, air or water safely, or techosphere, the production cycles, with no useless remains.

-          Waste is considered to be the result of bad design.

-          Buildings should be like trees and should clean the air and water.

Reading through the list, although I am just scratching the surface, you might say that this is all good in theory but what happens in reality. Well, it seems to be working beautifully when applied. McDonough has designed a building for Oberlin College and the building cleans its own waste through natural systems as well as producing more energy than it uses.  It works. Cradle to cradle principles when applied with intelligent design delivers what it promises. This is not dreaming; this is really about good design; this is about being serious about being ‘good’. And it works. Ford Motor Company, Nike, BASF, Desso, Herman Miller are some of the companies that have taken this approach to heart. Nike and Herman Miller plan to have only ‘no waste’ products by 2020. Both have cradle to cradle products are continuing to design new products as well as redesigning new ones.

And some more of the principles:

-          PVC is not used in cradle to cradle products.

-          It is not enough to pollute less; the problem should be solved completely.

-          The raw materials should keep their full properties in the recyling process. There should be no downcycling.

-          Everything that cannot be recycled should go into soil safely.

-          Waste is ok as long as it is 100% food.

-          Only humans take and do not give something back to the world. We need to look at the way things are done in nature.

-          Buildings should be like trees, and cities should be like forests.

-          Buildings must not conflict with nature.

-          Factories should be places safe enough for our kids to play in safely.

-          100% of the materials used in a product should be used indefinitely.

-          Carbon footprint should be taken into consideration in design.

-          Diversity needs to be celebrated.

Cradle to cradle products include diapers, shampoos, body lotions, office chairs, construction materilas, textile products, glass and flooring materials, packaging materials and many more.  Many of the products produced as cradle to cradle are industrial production materials that are not final consumer products. However over the years more and more consumer products are appearing on the market.

Cradle to cradle is a very important design approach that offers a positive constructive solution to the current environmental problems of our current way of production. It is an approach that I am very interested in and very hopeful about.

This week I wanted to introduce, to remind this concept and hope that you will look into the cradle to cradle as well. In planning for a better future, redesigning all elements of our lives will be necessary. And doing it the cradle to cradle way might make a big difference in all of our lives.

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Did I get too technical this week? Sometimes my engineer side shows its head quite strongly. I believe that it is time for all of us to take part in creating a better, safer and healthier future.

Ok, let’s talk a little about food and fun. Last week I was at a friendly and lovely café in Calis in Fethiye for breakfast. There was a meeting for the Fethiye Lions Club and the group decided to get together there. I just loved the homemade jams and there was quite a wide selection in the breakfast that they offered. Café Deck on the 1085 Street in Calis is a natural spot that you can relax and enjoy healthy and homemade dishes made by its owner.

I wish all of you a delicious week.

With love,

Z.

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