In order to receive a certification, a product must meet the following five requirements: There are five levels of certification that products can achieve: basic, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. The composition of the materials is therefore extremely important, as is their origin. This can be realised by reusing parts for new products, or in the form of biodegradability, which provides nutrients to nature. The Cradle to Cradle Certificate (Cradle to Cradle Certified tm) is an international certification for raw materials and products that can be fully reused in a way that preserves or even increases their value. Source: researchgate What is a Cradle to Cradle certification? Each type of product enters a perpetual cycle, is reused in some way, and keeps or increases its value. Biological cycles are the endless lifecycles of products for consumption, while technical cycles describe the circulation of service products. In Cradle to Cradle, there are two types of cycles, biological and technical cycles. In short, being eco-effective, rather than eco-efficient. You need to take that extra step to achieve the ultimate goal: to make a positive contribution to nature, humanity and the economy. Meaning that doing things “less bad” is not good enough. There needs to be a positive cycle that makes sure that more value is created: upcycling. For example, parts of a building often end up as gravel, or high-quality paper as toilet paper.Ĭradle to Cradle (C2C) is not only about recycling products. After downcycling, raw materials often no longer have the purity of the original raw material. This means that a product that is no longer used will decrease in value when it is recycled.

Most of the materials that are recycled are downcycled. This philosophy is accompanied by a sustainability label that can be awarded to products that are produced, used and reused according to the Cradle to Cradle principle. Cradle to Cradle products must therefore be remountable or fully recyclable and not contain any harmful raw materials.

According to this approach, raw materials are not thrown away (from cradle to grave), but are reused indefinitely or serve as “food” for new products. Cradle to Cradle is a design philosophy, devised by Michael Braungart and William McDonough.

Braungart cradle to cradle