What is one characteristic of cradle-to-cradle design?

Cradle-to-cradle design is a sustainable approach that focuses on creating products and systems that are regenerative by design. One of its key characteristics is that waste is not merely discarded but is repurposed as nutrients for new products. This philosophy encourages the creation of materials that can be safely returned to the environment or reused in manufacturing, effectively creating a closed-loop system.

This characteristic supports the idea of a circular economy, where the end of a product's life does not represent waste but instead serves as a valuable resource for new products. By designing materials that can be continuously recycled and reused, cradle-to-cradle design mitigates environmental impact and conserves resources. This is fundamentally different from merely emphasizing recycling or following a linear product lifecycle, where products are made, used, and then disposed of without considering their afterlife. Moreover, while reduction of consumption can be a component of broader sustainability strategies, cradle-to-cradle specifically focuses on redesigning our cycling of materials rather than just reducing the overall use of resources.