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An Intelligent Polyester Pool

Here's how a polyester cooperative might work: Willing partners would first agree on their shared commitment to product quality. Though partners might represent different industries and perspectives, they would be bound by common values. As with all new communities, a polyester pool would have to develop a framework of governance to set up the standards and protocols of working together. One could imagine the process as a kind of nation building and the framework as a constitution that outlines the rights and responsibilities of all partners, which all would agree to in a spirit of mutual trust. This exercise in community building would lay the foundation for future work.

With common ground established, the coalition partners would begin to create a list of specific chemicals used in the manufacture of polyester that are widely known to be harmful. These would be targeted for elimination or replacement. Participating companies would then generate a list of preferred intelligent materials-the ingredients they would ultimately like to use to create an ecologically intelligent polyester. Victor Innovatex, with MBDC, have already developed such a material.

After developing common specifications for intelligent polyester, the members of the coalition would begin to specify it as a product ingredient. With the power of its pooled market, the coalition could approach a polyester producer and invite it to become a partner. Ideally, the producer would be equipped with a chemical recycling system, which would effectively allow it to become the polyester bank. The coalition would agree to purchase all of its polyester from the producer and the producer would agree to manufacture intelligent polyester and take back and recycle all of the materials the coalition returned. The companies would define the use periods for their products and individually set up take back programs to replenish the material bank. A polyester loop would be effectively closed, eliminating waste from the technical metabolism of the coalition.

This process could be widely applied. In the steel industry, for example, value is often lost when a range of grades are mixed in recycling. A materials pool could preserve the value of steel over many life-cycles by specifying the separation of different grades in the technical metabolism. When high-quality steel is recycled with high-quality steel the metal retains its structural integrity. With cooperation between steel-makers and the manufacturers of a wide variety of products, from automobiles to trains to refrigerators, the steel loop could begin to be closed and the value of its nutrients preserved over time.

Seeding Material Pools

Following the outlines of our product of service concept, some companies have already begun to develop material pools by selling the service a product provides rather than the product itself. Carpet companies, for example, lease to their customers the service of floor covering. When the carpet wears out, or the customer decides to try a new style, the carpet is retrieved by the manufacturer and its materials are reused in new carpets. This strategy can be applied to any product: Car makers can provide the service of mobility; washing machine manufacturers can provide the service of clean clothes; computer distributors can provide the service of information and instant contact with the world, and so on.

Providing a service rather than a product has many benefits. First, it seeds the development of material pools. Companies maintain ownership of their materials while profiting from the services they offer. When the product is returned, its ingredients, if intelligently designed, can be used again in new products. Designing for recovery and reuse also gives companies the opportunity to specify high-quality materials-they will never lose their investment-and to design products with built in flexibility. Products designed for disassembly, for example, might contain high-tech parts that can be easily re-used in the next generation of evolving high-tech machinery. All of this, of course, results in the intelligent and effective use of valuable materials.

A Promising Future

Products of service are already a part of the industrial landscape, seeding material pools in evolving industries. Hints of business-to-business cooperation are also emerging as innovative companies explore the future of intelligent materials. There are, perhaps, many success stories on the horizon. To be truly successful on a large scale, however, material banks will have to be adopted throughout industry.

Closing the loop on material flows is the key to intelligent design and regenerative commerce. When industrial systems accrue value with healthy products, we can all celebrate human productivity and ingenuity rather than lamenting our impact on the world. As we move toward this goal with positive aspirations, modeling industry on the elegant designs of the natural world, we can begin to create the intelligent products and intelligent support systems that will allow both business and nature to thrive and grow. In such a world, where salmon are healthy and their habitats plentiful, we could enjoy the enduring health of the salmon species and have one for lunch, too.