Abstract
The Cradle to Cradle (C2C) concept has gained wide interest among especially designers over the past few years. This paper aims to investigate whether C2C products are in fact always sustainable and to explore whether an ideal C2C society is so too. An LCA comparing the C2C certified mineral paper TerraSkin with a cellulose based reference paper was conducted. From this, energy systems and recycling infrastructure was found to be decisive parameters for the sustainability of C2C products. They are therefore not always sustainable. Moreover a literature study identified inherent sustainability conflicts of the C2C concept relating to: 1) 100% closed loop recycling is not thermodynamically practical 2) addition of biological nutrients to the environment may result in loss of biodiversity and 3) even an ideal C2C society will experience resource scarcity and loss of biodiversity as a result of continuous economical growth.
Info
Conference Poster, 2011
UN SDG Classification
DK Main Research Area
Science/Technology
