The new Approved Ingredient certification programme assesses the sustainability of product ingredients for human and environmental health, as well as their recyclability or compostability. “The Cradle to Cradle Approved Ingredient certification makes it easier at the design stage to create ecologically-intelligent products by choosing materials that meet key sustainability criteria for material health and material reutilisation” said Jay Bolus, Vice President of Technical Operations for MBDC. “We invite material manufacturers to gain this designation and let their customers know about this as they qualify.”

The ‘Cradle to Cradle’ design concept is based on the Intelligent Product System (IPS) pioneered by chemist Michael Braungart in 1986. Prof Braungart is also the CEO of Hamburg-based EPEA. Braungart was heavily involved in the development of the world’s first compostable T-shirt with Trigema in Germany, and the innovative ‘Climatex’ Lifecycle upholstery fabric developed jointly with Lenzing, Clariant, Ciba (now Huntsman) and fabric producer Rohner Texil AG.

The Cradle to Cradle Approved Ingredient designation is the second certification program developed by MBDC, which initially set out to identify end-products that met a series of environmental criteria with four levels of attainment, each requiring a higher achievement: Basic, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

MBDC‘s Ingredient certification is open to all manufacturers that make chemicals, materials or substances used in finished goods. Material assessments are conducted by an in-house team of scientists and project managers.