Question

Explain the difference between ‘cradle to grave’ and ‘cradle to cradle’ design, and describe a process by which a service or product could become circular. In other words, how can we look at waste differently, or create products that don’t produce negative externalities? Can you provide examples of companies that have successfully transitioned to a cradle to cradle process?

Answer 1

Difference between cradle to grave and cradle to cradle design:

Cradle to grave Vs cradle to cradle
This is a new emerged thinking that holds that there are some products which do not only give value during their use or consumption but also have a significant amount of value during their entire life.
It is a new thinking process also known by the name " life cycle thinking " which tends to see the impact of the product during its life of use or disposal.
This concept tries to explain the whole process of the product right from its existence to its disposal , i.e how product begins to emerge with the raw materials and other components , to the time it is used or consumed , and finally to the moment when it is ready to be disposed off , thus given the name cradle to grave.
Cradle to grave design of producing products resulted in an efficient way to improve the product performance and
decrease the costs incurred. It encourages green cleaning resulting in reduction in concentration of products and thus helps to reduce toxicity , harmful emissions resulting in waste control.
It considers waste of product as food for new products. However it is only possible when the waste or disposed material is not contaminated otherwise resulting in down cycling and not using in high value product.

On the other corner , the Cradle to cradle design tend to incorporate the concept of designing products or components in such a way that at the end of their useful life when they have provided all their value or benefits they need to be capable enough to turn into new products and again serve a value , if not greater but at least equal.
This can be done by taking the sold products back.
The main concern of this cradle to cradle concept is to make the products with the components that can be taken back easily and can be thus reused , through processing of equal or greater value e.g plastic bags. Within the cleaning industry the cradle to cradle design is still emerging but is considered powerful if consistently looked upon and can be considered as an important step in the cleaning movement

The process that can be used to make a good or a service circular :

Redesigning the business models
It is high time , the renewable resources are already exploited excessively and if the business will not think about it then soon will we runs out from all necessary resources important for survival. The foremost thing that a business can adopt is to rethink and redesign its business model. By redesigning the business model i mean changing the processes or ways of producing products, finding alternatives of what can be used in a product, utilizing the full capacity, and using methods that ensure waste control. Redesigning the business model will change the goals of objectives of business, like previously the goal for instance was output maximization and now the goal will be recycling old products.

Digitalize supply chain and production

The another most effective process to introduce circular products producing economy is to digitalize the operations of business to ensure efficient control over stocks, ordering process, consumption of raw materials and using this knowledge for future reference. The manufacturing process and distribution of products should also be digitalized to produce products within budget in most economical way so that the employees do not consume raw materials used in making product extravagantly. It will also enable to adopt environmental friendly process and preserve planet.
The various new strategies like Supply chain logistics should be introduced and Enterprise resource planning can also prove beneficial.

Changing " Recycling means old " Mindset :
The another important process is to encourage customers to send back the disposed products for recycling and consider recycling as a means to save environment and resources. Their mindset regarding recycled products are made from old waste should be renovated into recycling will save them from future disaster. They should feel good while reusing the old products.

Example
Since cradle to cradle is an emerging and newly introduced concept , you won't find them yet adopted by giants as it requires lot of restructuring. How ever an Onion farm out there in california USA has introduced this concept in their functioning and business operations , i.e they they have found an incredible way of turning their waste into energy.
The another example is that of paris where a popular wholesaler giant avoids sending the waste to landfills and rather uses them in fueling their own operations.

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