Hyper-green products go 'cradle to cradle'

“It’s imperative that we back up our claims with an independent, third-party evaluation," French said.

"Consumers need to be able to distinguish legitimate environmental claims vs marketing slogans. It's our desire to be a leader on that front," French said. "We see C2C as the 'USDA certified organic' equivalent stamp for consumer packaged goods."

The first C2C certified consumer product — a U.S. Postal Service box — demonstrates how complicated redesign can be, Bolton said. Sixty packing items — including boxes, decals and labels — yielded 1,400 ingredients that had to be accounted for and certified. But there are benefits, such as reducing the cost of waste and hazardous material disposal. Now, you can recycle that Postal Service box when you are done with it.

“The idea is innovation,” said Bolton. “It is creating something new and exciting for you, your customers and your stakeholders. The opportunity for redesign is an opportunity for creativity.”

The new international partnership, formed just last month, will spread practical knowledge and build relationships among designers, producers and certifiers. The association has already began offering cradle-to-cradle workshops, certification and product development to interested companies.

The first cradle-to cradle convention — called NuTec and scheduled for Germany in November 2008 — will be a turning point because the partnership is pushing to certify as many products as possible by then, said Andrew Dent, Material Connexion’s vice president.

“Once you can get the materials manufacturers on board, then it will give the complex manufacturers a palette of materials to choose from,” said Dent. “Then it makes the whole process a lot simpler and a lot easier.”

Sales of cradle-to-cradle building products — such as building exteriors, carpet fibers and floor coverings — will probably increase after the U.S. Green Building Council incorporated these products into its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system this year, known as LEED.

“My prediction is we’re just seeing an awakening in the market that there is a better way to be doing what we are doing,” said Scot Horst, chairman of the LEED steering committee. “As I travel around, you can see the giant machine of our economy twist around.”

True believers see an even brighter future when entire industries adopt cradle to cradle as a standard design protocol.

“We had the Industrial Revolution, where we don't care how it is made as long as it is cheap, fast and we make a lot of it,” said Dent. “This is a revolution where it is a total beauty product. … These are products you can be proud of.”

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