
The first Industrial Revolution generated high productivity at a time when there were fewer people and low per-capita output in a world with seemingly unlimited natural resources. Today, we have overpopulation, combined with labor-saving automation and resource scarcity. The world is not production-limited, but resource-limited.
Though “sustainability” has become a mantra for modern business, most disposable consumer goods still go to the dump. The solution to this is Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) design, modeled on nature’s processes in which material resources continue circulating in healthy, safe metabolic processes. Industrial ecosystems must use, protect, enrich and circulate material resources.
C2C responsibility means that a manufacturer is fully accountable for resources used—from design, to manufacturing, to marketplace, to end-of-life disposal and back to inception of new products. The key to complete sustainability is for end-of-life materials to be diverted back into the market—reusing materials from previous-generation products in next-generation products and processes. The model in its broadest sense is not limited to manufacturing processes, but can be applied to buildings, environments and systems.
In his article, “Sustainability Leads to Next-generation Manufacturing” (Automation World, March, p. 28), Gary Mintchell cites several examples of manufacturers and process equipment suppliers that work toward sustainability through helping conserve energy. True sustainability must go beyond just energy and process savings—it must encompass C2C design and manufacturing.
Cradle-to-cradle design and manufacturing is the beginning of Natural Capitalism, a new paradigm of clean technologies and resource conservation. Sustainability programs should be a major part of every company’s continuous improvement programs, seeking reduced costs and increased profit, and leveraging environmental and societal benefits.
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