DEEPTI’S RESEARCH DISPATCH
Cradle-to-Cradle: Research Tidbit #1
A certification for sustainable products
I’m about to shop for a new office chair, now that my old one has come apart at every joint and droops sideways in a most woebegone manner.
I’m what Gretchen Rubin calls an ‘underbuyer’ — I chronically procrastinate all shopping, even for necessities. That might sound like a frugal humble-brag, but my left hip disagrees after sitting on that wobbly chair for months.
In looking for an ‘eco-friendly chair’ on the internet for a replacement, I came across a term I hadn’t heard before: Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certified. Ever-hungry for higher standards in sustainable products, I was intrigued.
What I knew going in
The name sounds like the common expression ‘cradle to grave,’ meaning ‘lifelong.’ But the ‘cradle’ at the end implies regeneration or rebirth, so I understood the name to depict a circular economy or regenerative cycle.
So I imagined this certification to be given to products that are built according to circular economy principles of reusing materials to avoid waste, depletion of resources, and pollution.
