Green is understanding, respecting, and incorporating the lifecycle of any given product, by-product, material, and/or additives of such product into the designing, manufacturing, storing, delivering, installing, and restoring the individual materials and product to an equally, or superior, reusable form.
Simple put, being green is understanding the lifecycle of any given product, and properly restoring the nutrient to the cycle in which it belongs.
In the book Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough and Michael Braungart illustrate this point brilliantly with their description of the two nutrient cycles of all matter; described as either a biological nutrient or technical nutrient.
“A biological nutrient is a material or product that is designed to return to the biological cycle–it is literally consumed by microorganisms in the soil and by other animals.” – Cradle to Cradle, “The Biological Metabolism” page 105.
Biological nutrients are products of consumption, for they are literally consumed by microorganisms in the natural process of decomposition. Biological nutrients make up the nature in which we live, are completely biodegradable, and are the building blocks of our entire ecosystem.
“A technical nutrient is a material or product that is designed to go back into the technical cycle, into the industrial metabolism from which it came.” – Cradle to Cradle, “The Technical Metabolism” page 109.
Technical nutrients are “upcycled” to retain their high quality in a closed-loop industrial cycle. Technical nutrients are compounds, materials, and products that we as creative beings manufacture through industry and technology, and are the building blocks of our built environment.
Both biological and technical nutrients are essential for our desired way of life, and we as a society and individuals can have both while being completely green. The key is to understand each type of nutrient, keep each nutrient cycle separate, and maintain the closed-loop of each cycle.
For example, all food is made up of biological nutrients that are easily biodegraded and returned to the soil as fertilizer. All food cartons and packaging can be made from completely biodegradable corn based plastics that leave no harmful byproducts or waste, and instead replenishes the soil in which it came.
Examples of technical nutrients are electronics, robotics, building materials, and the like. With a Cradle to Cradle mindset, an electronic device such as a cellular phone, would be sold along with a return address or drop box location for the manufacturer to re-harness the technical nutrients that made the phone.
There are numerous examples describing both types of nutrients; and next time, I’ll begin to discuss how you as a business owner can incorporate this understanding of the different nutrient cycles into higher profits and social responsibility for your company.