Cradle to Cradle® is changing the way the world does business
“The devil is in the detail” says Hein van Tuijl, managing director of independent Cradle to Cradle® pioneer and innovation partner, EPEA Benelux Here, we discuss the Cradle to Cradle framework and how it is making the wheels of the circular economy turn (for real). The possibility of designing a building that is energy-positive operationally, healthy and retains residual value at its end of use, is now becoming a reality, thanks to the Cradle to Cradle framework.
What’s the business benefit of Cradle to Cradle for architecture and construction?
Cradle to Cradle offers a vision where we see buildings as trees and cities like forests. This creates the basis for a broad range of value propositions. Once these are defined for the specific project, EPEA provides the science based application and verification methods. This is how we realize buildings that clean the air and water, generate energy, support biodiversity and are material banks for the future.
Most companies today have only Net Zero and other minimization targets on their agenda. Energy efficiency, CO2 savings and the use of renewable energies are quickly becoming the new standard for buildings. Long term though, it’s not simply about reducing our negative impacts, the question is how are we going to create positive impacts? Cradle to Cradle addresses this.
With legislative drivers like the European Green Deal encouraging the circular economy business model, it becomes more and more commercially appealing for businesses to look at ‘sustainability’ from a different perspective.
One of the greatest barriers in this sector is liability. The Cradle to Cradle framework uses a ‘first safe, then circular’ approach to materials.
This allows companies like WICONA to design and make products that are safe, circular and responsibly made. Positioning them as industry pioneers.
Celebrate healthy abundance!
Hein van Tuijl (managing director of independent Cradle to Cradle® pioneer and innovation partner, EPEA B.V)
What exactly is Cradle to Cradle?
Cradle to Cradle is a framework for innovation based on three principles:
1. Everything is a resource for something else (circular economy)
2. Use current solar energy income (energy transition)
3. Celebrate diversity (Bio-, Social-, Conceptual-)
We use science-based tools to set goals and measure progress. One of these tools is the Cradle to Cradle Certified® program for products.
Some businesses pursue Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified® certification for a product, others only adopt the framework and scientific methods. The point is to use C2C as a driver for innovation. We need to completely redesign materials, products and buildings if we want the circular economy to become a reality.
Inspired by nature, these principles focus on the safe and potentially infinite circulation of materials in cycles where every constituent is chemically harmless and recyclable.
Waste, as we know it today, will no longer exist, only useful components even down to a molecular level.
Who assesses Cradle to Cradle Certified®?
EPEA is one of several accredited assessment bodies of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (C2CPII), which awards the certificate “Cradle to Cradle Certified®” to products. The quality standard of the Cradle to Cradle Certified® products program comprises five categories.
What are the five categories you evaluate? And can you explain the Cradle to Cradle Certification process in the context of WICONA?
The devil really is in the detail. For starters, we look at the material health of a product.
For example, a WICONA window is not only produced using Hydro CIRCAL recycled aluminium. It includes surface treatments, like powder coatings, insulation layers glued on, etc. The constituent substances are identified by CAS Registry Number, by working closely with the supply chain partners.
Aluminium in a WICONA window or door might be safe for human- and environmental health, but what about the pigments in the powder coating? Do they release harmful substances during the recycling process of the aluminium? Do they influence the quality of the aluminium after recycling? A complete assessment of all materials against human and environmental toxicological criteria answers these questions and are the bedrock of Cradle to Cradle Certified® products. Under Product Circularity, we warrant that materials are applied in a circular way. This includes using recycled inputs, but also design for circularity ánd actively contributing to a cycling infrastructure.
Next to the materials, we also look at the manufacturing process in terms of Clean Air and Climate Protection, Water and Soil Stewardship and Social Fairness, not only at WICONA but suppliers’ businesses too.
When required, we support the re-design of both the product and the manufacturing process.
This level of detail makes it a challenging and demanding process but is what makes Cradle to Cradle Certified® a powerful and impactful standard.
So, how does this turn into commercial action?
I can give you a great example: WICONA invited a group of suppliers to the company’s headquarters in Ulm to look at ways of improving the quality and impact of the materials used to produce its façade systems.
Recognising the impact powder coating has on the recycling of aluminium, the powder coating supplier, following this workshop, stepped into a process with EPEA to work out how to ensure the coating doesn’t contaminate the recycled aluminium alloy – helping to form an infinite material loop.
There are many more examples like this. Now, WICONA runs regular supplier days to keep pushing forward. This is exactly the kind of commitment it takes to make progress, not just for WICONA but for the whole industry, and wider as both CIRCAL aluminium and powder coatings are used far beyond the façade sector.
More and more building projects specify Cradle to Cradle and/or circular products for their buildings. Cradle to Cradle Certified® is recognized under all the mainstream sustainable building standards like WELL, LEED, DGNB and in the near future BREEAM.
Surely other companies will simply copy what WICONA is doing?
Big companies have the power to set the innovation wheels in motion. The benefit for everyone goes far beyond.
By taking the lead, other manufacturers follow. This validates WICONA’s work. It also helps WICONA in the end as suppliers will see that the market for C2C materials and products is big and will start their own optimization work. They become part of the solution. We call this ‘material demand pooling’.
As a result, product designers and manufacturers can now source from an ever growing ‘pool’ of positively defined materials that meet the Cradle to Cradle criteria. This extends to optimized assembly processes too. Speeding up innovation and creating synergies across the sector.
What do the different Cradle to Cradle Certified® levels mean? Bronze, Silver…
The certification goes from Bronze, which is the entry level, through Silver and Gold, to Platinum, which means a material, product, or a business process is net positive. The certificates have to be renewed periodically through a process of re-certification.
To put WICONA’s achievements into context, it’s important to say that the Platinum level is an ambition that no company at present has achieved. Silver level for complex assembled products like WICONA’s is testament to the great work being done by them in the Cradle to Cradle arena.
How does the Cradle to Cradle Certified® scoring, work?
Each of the categories I mentioned earlier is scored from Bronze to Platinum. Your overall score, however, is your lowest score on an individual category. So, with one Bronze and four Platinum categories, overall, you would receive a Bronze certification. It’s a tough process but this is a serious business, and we maintain high standards.
Businesses can promote their certification scorecard though, which is a great way to demonstrate progress made on all five categories. Certification is all about continuous improvement.
What will specifiers and building owners benefit from by choosing Cradle to Cradle Certified® products?
They allow architects to design buildings for a circular economy that add value for their clients.
When you use Cradle to Cradle Certified® products in a project, they provide credits in green building schemes like, LEED, WELL, DGNB and in the near future BREEAM.
Cradle to Cradle-inspired building projects show remarkable results in the areas of for instance, reduced sick leave due to cleaner air and guaranteed residual value due to the quality of the selected materials and products. Using Cradle to Cradle Certified® products contributes to these goals. Just look at projects like Venlo City Hall where 20% reduced sick leave is measured compared to the old building leading to millions of euros in cost savings for the City during the 40-year use period. Using primarily C2C Certified® products and in cooperation with the suppliers they also managed to keep the residual value (value for second use) of the materials on the balance sheet which led to capital cost savings of another €3 - €5 million.
What do you think is the key to making a circular business model work?
One needs to broaden the scope beyond circularity to include positive impacts. Buildings, products and systems have the potential to actively contribute to human- and environmental health and this provides the business case. In Cradle to Cradle, we call this the triple TOP line instead of the triple bottom line.
If we want to create healthy buildings where people thrive, we need to redefine the quality of materials and manage them pro-actively through their cycles of use and reuse. Potentially hazardous chemicals in flooring products, paints, wallpaper, textiles, etc. present a liability for the user and for the building owner as they have a negative value during use ánd at the end of use through disposal.
Cradle to Cradle ambassadors, like WICONA and Hydro, are doing a great job in addressing these important topics and inviting their suppliers and clients to work towards the common goal!
EPEA helps in providing direction and in diving deep, to the molecular level, to substantiate the approach.
And to round off, what three words would you use to describe the future of ‘Circularity’?
Celebrate healthy abundance!