The first time I heard of the phrase Cradle to Cradle (C2C) was when a friend told me take a bath with a book called Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. The reason for the bath and the book at the same time? The book is printed on synthetic ‘paper,’ made from plastic resins and inorganic filters, and is designed to “look and feel like top quality paper while also being waterproof and rugged.” The book can be recycled in all areas where polypropylene (think yogurt containers) recycling is available and can be reused for a lifetime, barring any contact with fire or radioactive materials.

I quickly became intrigued with the book and plowed my way through it. The ideal behind Cradle to Cradle design is that of the design of the book: use, recycle, reuse. C2C is the anti-thesis of single-use throw away design that dominated American capitalism in the last half of the 20th century. It is a relatively new idea—simple in conception, difficult in reality—that is creating quite the buzz throughout the “green” industry.

The current buzz from C2C is the result of Michael Braungart and William McDonough, the authors of the previously mentioned book. Although others conceived of the idea before them, they are largely responsible for the recent popularization of the term. Their book is the first manifesto of the C2C movement and an excellent introduction to this revolutionary school of design.

Cradle-to-cradle products, as opposed to cradle-to-grave products, are designed and produced to be “perpetually circulated in a closed loop,” thus maximizing their value while simultaneously reducing damage to ecosystems. C2C seeks to eliminate “waste” altogether.

The language of C2C design can be complex, but understanding only a few terms will give you a basic understanding of the philosophy. Braungart and McDonough split up all materials into two categories: technical and biological nutrients. A biological nutrient is “a biodegradable material posing no immediate or eventual hazard to living systems that can be used for human purposes and can safely return to the environment to feed environmental processes,” while a technical nutrient is “a material that remains in a closed-loop system of manufacture, reuse, and recovery (the technical metabolism), maintaining its value through many product life cycles.”

In an ideal world, Braungart and McDonough would like to see products solely designed by C2C protocols and entirely composed of either biological or technical nutrients. This would ensure a truly sustainable economy, one that not only reduces resource use in the present, but also guarantees those resources’ health in the future.

Unfortunately this ideal world does not exist and probably never will, but Braungart and McDonough have conceived a ‘C2C Certification’ that rates nearly any type of human product: consumer items, buildings, cities, social systems, and more. Although the certification system was initially slow in gaining traction, entire cities in China could become certified in the near future.

According to Braungart and McDonough’s company website, C2C certification “provides a company with a means to tangibly, credibly measure achievement in environmentally-intelligent design and helps customers purchase and specify products that are pursuing a broader definition of quality… This means using environmentally safe and healthy materials; design for material reutilization, such as recycling or composting; the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency; efficient use of water, and maximum water quality associated with production; and instituting strategies for social responsibility.”

Hundreds of products have become C2C-certified and more are in the process. To learn more about certification, check out the site, which gives an overview of the certification process and the requirements to become certified.

C2C design is incredibly important as the United States and the world transitions into a clean energy and green economy. Simply reducing consumption and building renewable energy projects is not enough because it is not genuinely sustainable for the future. Concentrating on creating processes and products that do away with consumption altogether is what C2C is about and that is the model the new economy needs.