NEW YORK—A growing number of natural and organic product companies are looking to shore up their ecological credentials in response to rising consumer expectations. The Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) design approach offers a novel way for companies to integrate sustainability into their business practices.
Designed by McDonough & Braungart, the C2C design approach involves production processes in which nutrients are recycled at the end of their lifecycles. It takes a holistic approach to product design, seeking to create systems that are not just efficient but waste-free. Products made in accordance to the C2C design approach are given a certification. C2C has thus evolved from a systems approach into an eco-label.
Although originally made for industrial design and manufacturing, the C2C approach has expanded into consumer goods that include personal care products. However, Organic Monitor research finds the adoption rate in the natural and organic products industry is very low. This is surprising considering many such companies have sustainability built into their corporate ethos.
With consumers increasingly demanding more from natural and organic products, the C2C approach enables companies to create positive impacts rather than minimizing negative ones. It also allows natural and organic product companies to expand their sustainability horizons, covering a number of environmental and social facets.
Aveda was one of the first to adopt the C2C design approach. By adopting the C2C design approach, Aveda has gone beyond just making ecological and safe personal-care products.
Although natural and organic product companies are expanding their sustainability practices, most are undertaking initiatives in isolation like ethical sourcing and eco-design packaging. The C2C design encourages companies to take a holistic view, covering many aspects from raw material sourcing, production processes, packaging to the materials left at the end of the product’s lifecycle. Adoption rates of the C2C eco-label remains low, however it has the potential to break companies from their “natural" moulds and become truly sustainable.