Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart

Cradle to Cradle®

CRADLE TO CRADLE® in BELGIUM

“The Belgian EU Presidency wants to promote the concept of

‘sustainable materials management’,…which covers the whole life-cycle of products

in a so-called ‘cradle-to-cradle’ approach.”July 2010

Cradle To Grave® Design Paradigm

Precious Slag From Waste Incineration

• Incineration slag contains 13,000 tonnes/a of copper (average Germany)• It is worth of $100 million per year (Price rate 2010)

Copper -The Situation

• Reserves known for about 50 years• 28% of copper that humanity has

already extracted until now is considered definitively lost

• Only 25% of copper is recycled 20 years after production

• Decreasing tendency • Copper is commercialised on the

basis of an English standard (purity of 99,99%) that does not take into account how it has been produced

58

20

Environmental Disasters

Cradle To Grave : TARGET IS ZERO

•Reduction•Avoidance •Minimization•Prevention

ECO-EFFICIENCY

Loss of Topsoil

We lose 4000 – 6000 times more topsoil than we rebuild

Indoor Air-Pollution

Source: http://www.gonaturalbaby.com/blog/indoor-air-pollution/326/

Indoor Air Quality for Our Children

SOURCE: Hamburger Umweltinstitut e.V.

Bad Design: Chromatogram For Children‘s Toy

Off Gassing: Computerscreen

Benzene

Carbon Tetrachloride (-> solvent)

PentanalM

ethane, Chloroido- (-> solvent)

TolueneH

exanalA

cetic Acid, butyl ester

Octane

EthylbenzeneB

enzene, 1,3-/1,4-dimethyl-

Cyclonhexanone

Heptanal

Benzene, 1,2-dim

ethyln-N

onaneB

enzene, (methylethyl)-

Hexanal, 2-ethyl-

alpha-PineneB

enzene, propyl-B

enzene, ethyl-methyl-

Trimethylbenzene

Octanal

beta-PineneD

ecaneH

eptane, pentamethyl-

1-Hexanol, 2-ethyl

Benzene, m

ethyl-(methylethyl)D

-Limonene

Benzene, m

ethyl-propyl-B

enzene, ethyl-dimethyl-

Benzenem

ethanol, alpha, alpha, dN

onanalB

enzene, (methoxyl-m

ethylethyl)U

ndecaneC

yclohexen-one, trimethyl

Decanal

Dodecane

Tridecane

TertadecaneC

opaene

1H-C

ycloprop[e]azulene, 1a,2,3,4,4Fam

esenePhenol, (dim

ethylethyl)methoxy-

2,6-DI-T-B

UTYL-4-M

ETHYLEN

E-2B

utylated Hydroxytoluene

Impunity from

Solvent

Neurotoxic at certain concentrations

Suspected carcinogen

Off Gassing: Siemens Vacuum Cleaner After 15 Minutes

Asbestos-free Brake Pads

A Solution?

Electron microscopy pictures of brake dust. O. von Uexku¨ ll and Michael Braungart et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 19–31

Are We Too Many?

“No goal is more crucial to healing the global environment, than stabilizing human population.”

Al Gore

Are We Too Many?

unwelcome to the planet?

Are THEY Too Many?

The Biomass of ANTS is 4 Times Greater Than HUMANS

ECO-EFFECTIVENESS

Cradle To Cradle® : The Goal Is QUALITY

ECO-EFFICIENCY

•Define•Increase•Support •Optimize

OPTIMAL

OPTIMIZABLE

TOLERABLE

NOT ACCEPTABLE

NOT CHARACTERIZED

Identify The Best: ABC-X CATEGORIZATION

Cradle To Cradle®: Doing The Right Things!

DOING THE RIGHT THINGS

DOING THINGS RIGHT

TRIPLE Top Line

Cradle To Cradle® Design Paradigm

• Waste equals Food(NUTRIENTS are NUTRIENTS)

• Use Current Solar Income

• Celebrate Diversity

Biological Metabolis

mTechnical

Metabolism

BiologicalNutrient

KLM - Compostable Airplane Seat Prototype

Technical Nutrient

Stef Kranendijk CEO

It’s a task we’re proud to undertake, for the betterment of our products, our brand,

the people and our planet.

"The greenest house is the one that never gets

built.“

— Whit Faulconer, GreenBlue?

BUILDINGS LIKE TREES CITIES LIKE FORESTS

Adam J oseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies I Oberlin College, OH

Ford Rouge Center

WILLIAM McDONOUGH

Eco-Effective Architecture• More Impact• MORE

– Habitat– Biological Diversity– Clean Water– Fresh Air– Beauty– FUN!

Herman Miller “Green House” Factory

Oia Instituto Ambiental Latin America • Soil recovery

• Nutrient recycling• Energy from Biomass• Economic profitability

• Social justice

www.oia.org.br

Biomass Nutrient Recycling: Sewage Treatment

Phosphate Recovery

BIONORICA: Building Like A Tree

Building: BIONORICA NEUMARKT

For more information: www.duurzaamgebouwd.nl/bookstore

• Defining a C2C Building• Criteria• Implementation• C2C Energy• Measuring:Intentions,Milestones & Roadmaps

van Gansewinkel Groep- Nutrient Management Company

“For us Cradle to Cradle is not an invention but a discovery of what our work really is about!

It is so inspirational for our company.“Ruud Sondag, CEOvan Gansewinkel Groep

Example Of A Cradle To Cradle® Platform

EPEA INTERNATIONALE UMWELTFORSCHUNG GMBHTROSTBRÜCKE 4D-20457 HAMBURGGERMANYT. +49 40 43 13 49 0F. +49 40 43 13 49 49www.epea.com

Michael Braungartbraungart@epea.com