It is apparently time to break away from the concept of using our planets raw material until it ends up in a landfill. Even recycling it seems to be no more than down cycling it until it ends up in a dump anyway. If we look at nature, we see how trees grow, how they shed their used material – the brown leaves – which becomes entirely reusable as a nutrient for the next generation of life. What ever life that is, but the recycling and up cycling of the material is a natural fact.
The same can go for the things we manufacture and use. By designing any ingredients we make with later functions in mind, we can make anything re- and up cycle-able. We can make our own nutrients for the biosphere or the technosphere. The main thought behind this is: closed cycles for anything.
Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the way we make things – William McDonough & Michael Braungart
