Brave New Recycling Economy: Movement Turns Trash to Treasure

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-chemist-pushes-for-smarter-use-of-materials-through-c2c-a-985934.html



Every piece of garbage can be turned into raw material that can be used in future products. With his influential Cradle to Cradle movement, Germany's Michael Braungart espouses a form of eco-hedonism that puts smart production before conservation.

Brave New Recycling Economy: Movement Turns Trash to Treasure
By Michaela Schiessl
August 14, 2014 – 01:20 PM

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Eco-Hedonism

"Our current world of products is totally primitive," says Braungart. We produce things, often filled with pollutants, and we eventually throw them away. The toxins escape into the soil, air and water. In his view, our practices are completely underdeveloped -- part of a dark, Neanderthal-like world. "A product that becomes waste is simply a bad product. Bad chemistry."

Braungart wants to apply good chemistry, and make products without any pollutants, which either end up as compost or are returned into the technical cycle as a pure, unadulterated raw material. If this were achieved on a large scale, many things would change. Wastefulness would no longer be bad but would in fact be a virtue, and we would be living in a world filled with abundance instead of restrictions. Our world would mimic nature, in which, for example, the blossom on a cherry tree turns into fruit, humus or a new tree - an elixir of life in all three cases. This eco-hedonism is Braungart's creed. "I want people to live extravagantly," he says.

Austerity and sacrifice, the favorite disciplines of many environmentalists, are anathema to him. The German environmental movement? "A club of guilt managers deprived of enjoyment." The proponents of sustainability? "They're optimizing the wrong thing."

To turn his theory into practice, Braungart has established a company, EPEA. His German clients include personal care products giant Beiersdorf and lingerie maker Triumph, mail order company Otto and cosmetics maker Aveda. Braungart advises Volkswagen, Unilever and BMW. With his help, HeidelbergCement developed a special cement that purifies the air once its been processed into concrete. And, in 2013, Puma introduced the first fully recyclable athletic clothing collection, which includes compostable shoes.