News from MBDC for September 2002:

"...standing hip-deep in a cold Icelandic stream as my friend, colleague and fishing partner, Darcy Winslow, gently removed the hook from a salmon she had just caught and released it back into the pool. The fish wriggled on the surface for a moment, seemingly getting oriented, and then darted away, joining a dozen other healthy salmon at the bottom of the stream." Creating a profitable, healthy technical metabolism is one of the most challenging steps toward Cradle to Cradle Design. In the MBDC.com feature story for September and October, Michael Braungart draws analogies from fly-fishing and nation-building to describe how companies might meet this challenge. This MBDC.com exclusive article is longer than most, but well worth a read.

http://www.mbdc.com

Internet-based companies ship millions of packages to customers each year, and the continuing growth of eCommerce adds tons of packaging materials to municipal solid waste systems. The US EPA Office of Solid Waste is partnering with MBDC in a pilot project, working toward implementation of a redefined cradle-to-cradle approach to eCommerce packaging. The two-phase pilot will include: 1) the development of a progressive design framework for eCommerce packaging; and 2) the execution of a Design Challenge to solicit innovative designs meeting this framework.

To spur innovative solutions to emerging environmental problems, the pilot will challenge companies to rethink systems, materials, and product development processes around the goal of eliminating the concept of waste. The Design Challenge, in particular, will draw on the creativity of designers and companies throughout the country, and we look forward to exciting new design solutions resulting from the exercise.

Read the EPA press release or fact sheet. (http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/IwgInnovationPilots.htm#ecommerce ; http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/docs/iwg/eCommerce.pdf)

A recent Reuters article, published on ENN.com, reports on the questions being raised in India as that nation's recyclers deal with scrap material from the World Trade Center's fallen towers. Greenpeace India believes that steel from the structures may be contaminated with toxins from the building materials and electronics equipment dispersed throughout the rubble. Other environmentalists point out that the steel will be 'downcycled' into lower quality materials. In the end, the associations with the trajedy of last September 11th are making the WTC steel difficult for some Indian recyclers to sell.

Read the article. (http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/09/09062002/reu_48362.asp)

Thanks for staying in touch with us, and interested in the progress of Cradle to Cradle Design. We'd love to hear exciting developments in the direction of eco-effectiveness you may come across, too. And please share this with your friends by inviting them to subscribe to the newsletter, too. (http://www.mbdc.com/Opt-In-Form.htm)

Phil

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Phil Storey
MBDC, Manager of Communications
phil.storey@mbdc.com

Also:

Purchase the book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, from your local bookstore, order locally through Booksense, or order from Amazon.com.

Buy the video, The Next Industrial Revolution, from Earthome Productions.