FBlog

A very interesting BBC documentary (Ghosts in the machine, BBC2) on the history of industrial design recently dedicated a sequence to the groundbreaking book Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart. In the book, McDonough & Michael Braungart put forward a simple idea. Much of what we consider to be ‘recycling’ today is actually ‘downcycling’ – the act of taking complex materials and reforming them into lower grade products with a limited life: turning plastic bottles into sleeping policemen rather than new bottles. Worse still, certain ‘frankenstein’ products as they call them, combine materials like plastics paints and metals in a way that means they can never be separated. Even simple things like printing ink can seriously compromise the next generation quality of paper. And despite good intentions some materials are being re-used in applications for which they were never originally intended – like plastics for clothing – that can cause undetected harm through chemical off gassing. All of which conspires to prevent genuinely sustainable re-use. Given that the earth has limited resources and most materials are eventually consigned to landfill, the impact of this kind of mass production and limited recycling is exponential.

As a result, the overriding message of environmentalism is to inhibit consumption. Old models of industrial production cannot create things that are genuinely sustainable, no matter how much we downcycle, so the only solution is less consumption and greater austerity.

The answer, they argue, lies in a totally different kind of design. Cradle to cradle products like the office ‘Think Chair’ are made from separate modules, with raw materials that can easily be separated and re-used for the same purpose at the end of the product’s life. The metals can make more chair frames of the same quality, the fabric will biodegrade and the plastic can be repurposed for future arms and wheels. But above all, it’s comfortable and elegant! Extend the potential of this thinking into product design and innovation across other categories – from automotive to chemical production – and businesses can keep on satisfying consumer demand for novelty and great design without depleting finite resources and dumping toxins like heavy metals into the ecosystem.

McDonough & Braungart use an interesting model to help with cradle to cradle decision making in every area of business that seeks a balance between Ecology, Equity and Economy – not unlike the ‘triple bottom line’ of people, profit, planet put forward by Andrew Savitz . In both cases, the argument is that sustainable business thinking – in everything from factory design to raw material selection and corporate social responsibility – is no longer nice to have. It will be the single biggest driver of future differentiation and success: essential for humanity and the balance sheet. All of this depends, of course, on root and branch innovation inside businesses and throughout supply chain systems.

To get this kind of thinking right, businesses need to consider new ways of working, not just internally, but with partners, customers and consumers. Business strategies driven partly by people or ‘equity’ as McDonough & Braungart put it, will have to be built by the people with most at stake. Which calls for greater collaboration inside and outside businesses, perhaps using methods like mass collaboration, crowd-sourcing and open innovation – finding long term product ideas and business models that benefit employees, customers, partners and consumers (and ultimately shareholders). In the same way, corporate values will need to be geared to deliver real behaviour change, incentivizing radical solutions to traditional problems and embracing openness in operations, relationships and human resourcing strategy. But above all, Cradle to Cradle is a salutary reminder that there is always an alternative way of thinking about familiar problems – even when they’re as big as saving the planet.