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FORTUNE -- In 2002, the renowned green architect Bill McDonough and his

German business partner, Michael Braungart, an environmental chemist and


former Greenpeace activist, wrote the groundbreaking book Cradle to Cradle:
Remaking the Way We Make Things. Since its publication, the book has
influenced not only an entire generation of industrial designers and chief
sustainability officers but some notable CEOs. Cradle to Cradle argued that its
not enough for a company to become more efficient -- it must radially alter the
way it designs products to make them more sustainable.

Despite the authors impressive efforts, most products today are still designed to
be cradle to grave. They are made, used, and thrown away. By contrast, a
cradle to cradle product is designed of materials that can be recycled or returned
safely to earth. Waste is eliminated. A few forward thinking companies such as
Herman Miller (MLHR, +1.84%), Ford (F, -0.08%), P&G (PG, -0.45%), and Shaw
Carpets have adopted in part this radical approach. A few years back, Herman
Miller designed a cradle-to-cradle office chair made of materials safe enough to
eat. (I suppose youd have to be really hungry.)

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Eleven years after the publication of Cradle to Cradle, the authors have written a
sequel called The Upcycle. Those who havent already read Cradle to Cradle will
be rewarded with a refreshed retelling of the authors philosophy. They will be
exposed to important notions expounded upon in the first book such as Good
design would allow for abundance, endless reuse, and pleasure or waste is
food or less bad is no good.

Yet those already familiar with McDonough and Braungarts book will find little
thats new here in terms of their overall philosophy. What you do get are insights
into the progress theyve made over the last decade. Theyve created the
McDonough and Braungart certification process, which helps companies think
through the steps of doing cradle to cradle design. Theyve also given away to
industry their catalogue of safe, cradle to cradle chemicals, work that has taken
years to compile.

And one does get a broader and updated examination of the concept of
upcycling. The authors argue that instead of reusing materials in products that
end up lower and lower on the value chain (think of the tree that goes to a table
to toilet paper) materials should be repurposed into products of equal or greater
value. Thats the gist of upcycling. Such products are designed to be used and
reused forever or safely be put back in the earth.

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Upcycling is hard to do, and the book presents a compelling case study that
shows just how hard. When the furniture maker Steelcase (SCS, 0.00%) was
looking to replace PVCs, which is a carcinogenic precursor and will off-gas toxins,
it turned to a plastic called TPU which was safer and therefore could be upcycled.
Upon further study Steelcase found that making TPUs ended up emitting more
greenhouse gasses though its manufacturing and lifecycle than PVCs. What to
do? Steelcase decided it was better to try to offset the carbon by using more
renewable energy at its facilities than to stick with a more energy efficient, yet
toxic material.

This was a valuable case study, and one wishes there were more of them in this
book, especially examples examining the economics of cradle to cradle
engineering. That said, one cant go wrong following the lively thought processes
of these two radical thinkers. So buy this book and pass it on to a friend when
youre done and engage in a little of your own upcycling.

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