Cradle to cradle product registry system

Following on from the launch of the PVC industry’s new Product Transparency Declaration (see Flooring group launches product transparency declaration), the pioneers of product transparency the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute have launched a new database, the Cradle to Cradle Product Registry. The database aims to help consumers, designers and builders make more sustainable and healthier product selections.

The registry is the culmination of many years of hard work by the Institute. In 2006 they implemented a product programme that called for rethinking the entire process of product design, what it contains, how it is made, and where it goes after use. The aim was to encourage designers and manufacturers to create products that can be used in continuous cycles or biological products that can be disposed of in any natural environment.

The new registry includes an optimal certification scorecard which classifies the efficiency of products across five categories:

• Material health.
• Material re-utilisation.
• Renewable energy and carbon management.
• Water stewardship.
• Social fairness.

The key to the registry is transparency, as Bridgett Luther, president of the Institute, highlights “We are encouraging our certification holders to allow us to put up their scorecard, it lets stakeholders quickly see where manufacturers have done the hard work of continuously improving their product.”

Initiatives such as this, and the UK-based Greenspec, are helping consumers enter a new era of consciousness where products can be selected on social and environmental value. A level of interpretation is of course still required, and sustainability consultants can work with clients to ensure projects achieve their ambitions efficiently and effectively.

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This article was created by Ritu Rajashekar of --KLH Sustainability as part of an ongoing series of posts for Designing Buildings Wiki.

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