“Multi-Attribute” Cradle-To-Cradle Seal: The Ultimate In Sustainability?

For brands looking to cover all their bases in corporate responsibility with one certification – from ingredient safety to sourcing and environmental impact – Cradle to Cradle certification may be the right investment.

C2C is a “total quality management” seal developed by architect and designer William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, who founded consulting/certification firm MBDC in 1995 to assist firms in improving their products and operations.

Certification under the C2C framework requires that a firm move “beyond the traditional goal of reducing the negative impacts of commerce (‘eco-efficiency’) to a new paradigm of increasing its positive impacts (‘eco-effectiveness’),” according to MBDC’s website.

In a personal-care context, that means more than simply eliminating chemicals of concern. C2C supports products that are “more good” rather than merely “less bad,” the firm explains.

In awarding the C2C seal, MBDC evaluates a product, and the operations behind its production, with respect to five key factors – use of safe and appropriately sourced materials, material reutilization, renewable energy, release of clean water and social fairness.

At the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit May 12, Bridgett Luther, president of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, hailed C2C certification as “a new approach.”

“There are a lot of eco-labels out there, [and] they’re all measuring different things,” she said. With C2C, “you have to look at everything. You have to think of your materials as nutrients. You have to commit to renewable energy. You have to become a water steward. You have to pay everybody a fair wage.”

The system fosters “sustaining” rather than “sustainable” products, according to Luther.

Based in San Francisco, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute was founded in 2009 with support from then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. MBDC has “gifted” the institute its standards, and it will become sole C2C certifier later this year, backed by a network of trained consultants, assessors and auditors.

In preparation, the institute recently launched C2CCertified.org, outlining the pathway to certification along with the institute’s mission and goals.

The Estee Lauder Companies and Ford Motor Company are two firms that already have certified products to C2C standards.

Sharing Will Help Create “Preferred” Lists

Aspects that distinguish C2C from other certification programs include the spirit of sharing it fosters. “We are sharing information, sharing lessons learned, sharing actual ingredients in products, without the fear that this act of generosity will put people out of business,” according to the institute’s site.

The organization is optimistic that by encouraging sharing of ingredient data and tech insights between parties it will be able to provide a palette of “preferred” chemicals, materials and processes that manufacturers can use to make safe and healthy products, it says.

“Over time, we envision this as a portal for certified suppliers to show the world their exemplary materials, and to aggregate the demand of buyers so that this pricing is competitive,” the institute says. To get the ball rolling, MBDC co-founder Braungart will publish his list of preferred materials for cosmetics through the site this month, according to the institute.

There is also a “wish list” section on the institute’s website where visitors can name materials they “would like to see readily available in the marketplace.”

C2CCertified.org could be of service to beauty manufacturers faced with the Regulation for Safer Consumer Products under California’s Green Chemistry Initiative. Thomas Myers, associate general counsel for the Personal Care Products Council, expects the regulation to target personal care as a “test case” (Also see "Personal Care Will Be California Green Chemistry “Test Case” – Council" - HBW Insight, 13 Jun, 2011.).

Criteria Mandate Closed-Loop Systems

C2C certification promotes closed-loop systems in which “everything that goes into the manufacturing process – and that’s generated – [is] designed for infinite reuse or returned to nature.”

Applicants must demonstrate that they use “safe materials that can be disassembled and recycled as technical nutrients (continually recycled into products of equal value without contaminating the biosphere) or composted as biological nutrients (derived from the biosphere and able to biodegrade into healthy soil),” according to MBDC. To that end, systems must be established to continuously and cost-effectively recover materials at end-of-life.

The “multi-attribute” C2C standards have been applied in the review of nearly 400 products, resulting in carbon reductions of more than 13 million metric tons and toxic reductions of at least one million pounds to date, MBDC says.

With MBDC’s help, Rohner Textil AG designed a completely compostable fabric that can go into a garden after use. Out of hundreds of chemicals analyzed, 16 dyes were selected for use in the fabric, called Climatex LifeCycle, along with wool and ramie, according to a MBDC brochure. Instead of going to a landfill after its use in applications like seat covers on the Airbus A380, a 525-seat mega-airplane, its scraps are shredded and sold to local farmers and gardeners as mulch, according to MBDC. “It’s so clean you can eat it,” said McDonough at the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit.

There are four levels of certification within the C2C framework – Basic, Silver, Gold and Platinum – which reflect “a progression of achievements,” MBDC says.

The Cradle to Cradle Institute, which enjoys exclusive licensing rights to MBDC’s protocol and seal, notes that the tiered system allows it to “engage companies at varying levels of environmental achievement and work with them to continue to improve their products and processes. Other certification programs have one benchmark by which you pass or fail and offer no support or recognition for achieving beyond that,” it says.

Basic certification requires all chemicals in the product to be identified down to 100 ppm level (0.01%). No PVC, chloroprene or related chemicals are permitted in any concentrations, all ingredients must be assessed for human and environmental toxicity, and a plan must be adopted “to optimize all remaining problematic chemicals,” the institute says. Finally, all materials defined as technical nutrients are to be recycled or biological nutrients composted, the organization says.

The most advanced level, Platinum, requires firms to eliminate or substitute for all problematic chemicals, to be “actively recovering products and closing the loop” and to use renewable energy for 100% of their manufacturing and 50% of supply-chain manufacturing, among other considerations related to water use and social responsibility.

The price of certification can range from $5,500 to $75,000+, depending on the complexity of the product. According to MBDC, the process can take two to six months.

Numerous products certified meet Basic or Silver criteria, including Herman Miller Thrive keyboard trays (Silver), United States Postal Service stamps (Silver) and Van Houtum B.V. Satino Black Toilet Paper (Silver), which is produced in a “fully CO²-neutral fashion using 100% recycled paper,” the firm says.

Lauder/Aveda, P&G/Pantene Certify C2C

The Estee Lauder Companies’ Aveda unit announced two years ago that it was “the first beauty company in the world” to achieve C2C certification from MBDC with seven of its products meeting the Gold standard including its Smooth Infusion shampoo and conditioner and Green Science Firming Face Cream.

"Designing and manufacturing products can be environmentally responsible when environmental goals are factored into the concept at the very beginning,” said Aveda President Dominique Conseil in an April 2009 release. “At Aveda, we believe that authentic beauty cares for the environment which we inherited from elders, and will leave to generations that follow."

P&G certified two shampoos and conditioners in its Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion line last year, per MBDC’s online C2C-certified products list. The brand’s sugarcane-derived packaging consumes about 70% less fossil fuels and releases roughly 170% less greenhouse gases per ton than petroleum-based plastic .

Method is one of the most committed proponents of the label, with over 40 products certified, including Squeaky Clean Bubble Bath, Daily Shower Spray and Foaming Handwash.

“Running a company in an environmentally intelligent way is just as important as making a green product,” Method asserts on its blog. “We’ve been recognized for being a green and sustainable company in all that we do – not just the products we create. Everything we do meets the C2C standards even if we don’t choose to certify every single one of our products.”

Launched in 2008, Kiehl’s Aloe Vera Biodegradable Liquid Body Cleanser, a limited-edition product, was formulated with 100% biodegradable ingredients. Free of parabens, SLS and dyes and housed in a 100% post-consumer-recycled bottle, it earned the C2C mark.

Kiehl’s net profits from sales of the product supported the work of JPF Eco Systems, a charitable partnership created by Kiehl's and actor Brad Pitt to maximize awareness of environmental sustainability. McDonough is also using his sustainable design expertise to build housing with Pitt in New Orleans’ lower ninth ward, which was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.

By Suzanne Blecher