New book “The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart

This week marks the publication of The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability – Designing for Abundance, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. It’s their first book since their 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, a bestseller that helped change the conversation about designing and manufacturing, envisioning a closed-loop system where every material was returned to the soil, or back into the manufacturing process with no harm or loss of quality. ... lees meer

Ellen MacArthur Foundation launches global business alliance: the Circular Economy 100

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has today launched the Circular Economy 100 (‘CE100’), a three year programme aimed at bringing together a network of 100 leading companies globally to facilitate development and commitment to new circular economy projects. The CE100 will provide executive education on key themes and emerging trends, share knowledge and new learnings, and identify and develop solutions to common challenges. The objective is that by 2015 participating companies will have triggered circular initiatives that will result in an aggregated economic benefit of $10bn for the businesses involved. ... lees meer

New report: Towards the Circular Economy vol. 2

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation launches Towards the Circular Economy Vol.2: opportunities for the consumer goods sector , a new report, featuring analysis by McKinsey & Co, which builds on last year’s report and makes the case for a faster adoption, quantifies the economic benefits of circular business models, and lays out pathways for action. ... lees meer

Cradle to Cradle Certified (CM) Product Program Moves to Independence, Transparency

A new Certification Standards Board has been created by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to oversee the ongoing development of the Cradle to Cradle product certification protocol. The board’s responsibility for Cradle to Cradle product certification represents an important step toward transparency for the certification process and independent third-party verification of the protocol, developed over the past 20 years by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart in collaboration with some of the world’s top brands. ... lees meer

C2C legt conclusies en aanbevelingen voor aan Europese Commissie en Vlaanderen in Actie

Het Cradle to Cradle Network (C2CN) is een Europees INTERREG IVC-project waarin tien Europese regio’s, van de UK tot Roemenië en van Italië tot Finland, op zoek gaan naar succesvolle praktijkcases van Cradle to Cradle. De OVAM participeerde als Vlaamse partner in dit project. Samen onderzochten we hoe praktijken die op een bepaalde plaats werken, ook in een andere context kunnen toegepast worden. Die bestaande praktijken hoeven zelfs niet de volle honderd procent cradle to cradle te zijn, als ze maar het potentieel hebben om ervan te leren. De partners brachten zo samen een gezamenlijk en open innovatieproces op gang om de cradle to cradle-principes steeds meer én verder realiseerbaar te maken. ... lees meer