A book not made of paper : Cradle to Cradle (In order to explain how this book is an ideal and sustainable product, and not simply an educational device, I first must explain the educatory content of the book as it will reveal a new form of thought about sustainable design; the type of design thinking that went into creating a book not made of paper. ) William McDonough and Michael Braungart, authors of “Cradle to Cradle,” are Remaking the Way We Make Things.
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Their book is more than a handbook for future architects, engineers, and designer, it is a bible of revolutionary thinking on life. While designers should sleep with this book by their side, this book is for everyone who lives and loves their planet. The book is provocative, in that it brings awareness to a dangerous and limited world we have created. Though seemingly building fear as it reveals problems, “Cradle to Cradle” also delivers hope because it has solutions; a new way of thinking.
McDonough and Braungart ask us to challenge the idea that industry must destroy, pollute, and contaminate Our Ecosystems, Our Environments, Our World and to rethink the industry as something that has limitless resources, contributes to the natural and technological environments, and delivers healthy and beautiful products to our children. We have all heard about “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” and does it sound like a beautiful solution to all our problems.
The 3R’s are not a solution, but a slow process of downcyling of raw materials, whether they are biological (from the natural world; biodegradable) or technical (pure, raw materials such as metals and plastics; upcyclable) nutrients, to a point in which they are rendered useless; most likely ending up in a landfill to decay ‘till eternity. The authors prefer to use the word upcycled, rather than recycled, because most products today are not conceived in a way where they can be safely recycled. For example, a soda can will never become a soda can again.
If it is “recycled”, the two different types of raw metals (technical nutrients) and the ink will be melted together forming a cheaper and weaker metal, from which an object of lesser quality may be created. This process is repeated until the metal becomes useless and the expensive raw materials, from which the can was originally made, are lost forever. A solution, the book would suggest, is that the designers of the can, design the can to be upcycled in a way which the raw materials of the can may be reclaimed to produce the can again and again.
Thus, saving the need for new raw materials. While the technology to make completely healthy and safe industrial work environments was not available in the past, today we have no reason not to use the technology to make work environment healthy and, at the same time, make the surrounding natural environment better. McDonough being an architect and Braungart a chemist, worked on many projects that they list as real examples of proof that “Cradle to Cradle” thinking is not just imaginary philosophy but rather something plausible and beneficial to businesses (both client and economic wise).
One such project is a Swiss textile factory which produced toxic waste. After the intervention one architect and one chemist, the authors who also have a firm together, the factory was not only saving money, they were producing healthy, biodegradable textiles and the previously polluted water was leaving the factory cleaner than it entered. So it is appropriate to ignore the old saying, “Cradle to Grave,” as it is the old way of looking at the world.
Let us learn from nature that there is no such thing waste (waste being a manmade concept). We tend to think that we are born, we live and then we die; the end. This is far from the truth. We become nature’s biological nutrients. Our body, that is if it is not buried in a coffin, will become food for another organism, one that will live and die. A continuous cycle of rebirth. “Cradle to Cradle,” is a beautiful title for this book and new phrase for human kind live by.
Having stated the premise of the book and the new ideas the authors enlighten us with, let me explain the actual book as a sustainable product. The book doesn’t feel like a book; it’s a different size and shape, the pages are thick and it’s waterproof. It is printed on a synthetic ‘paper,’ made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers. It is designed to look and feel like top quality paper, but more durable and lasting. The book can be easily recycled in localities with systems to collect polypropylene, like that of yogurt containers.
The inc that is printed on this polymer-based paper can also be recollected and reused by placing the book in boiling water, allowing the inc to float of the pages, and then collecting the inc from the surface of the water for reuse. This ‘treeless’ book shows the future of synthetic books. Books that can be used, recycled, and used again without losing any material quality; just as “Cradle to Cradle” states we can do with any products we make in the future.
