The Cradle to Cradle Principle

Baukom’s guiding principle for implementing sustainability is the Cradle to Cradle® principle (C2C). In this concept, products are no longer only assessed according to their aesthetics and functionality, but also according to their impact on the environment and health and their suitability for the material cycle. The Cradle to Cradle® Certified™ product standard is the brainchild of scientists Prof Dr Michael Braungart and William McDonough and is awarded by the Cradle to Cradle® Products Innovation Institute (C2CPII), a non-profit organisation based in San Francisco (USA). The process leading up to certification brings designers and manufacturers together through a process of continuous product optimisation towards a combination of sophisticated aesthetics, technical quality and the highest ecological standards.

C2C requires a paradigm shift in the way a product is designed, assembled, used and returned. Baukom Managing Director Stefan Endlweber: “Intensive discussions with Dr Michael Braungart led us down this path of thinking in cycles (see graphic on the next page) and ultimately led to the realisation that we need to rethink! We need innovations that save raw materials.”

Actively practising C2C certification enables you to make progress for your company:

The image boost is of course also important for Baukom sales partners and their business customers. With the sustainability strategy behind them and products that have been developed in accordance with C2C criteria, they can set themselves apart from direct competitors.

The concrete Cradlebility^® process at Baukom ultimately began at the product level. The company’s logistics were analysed and completely restructured, and inventories were digitalised in order to optimise processes. Stefan Endlweber: “It became clear that we have a high rate of damage to profiles in particular, which can be attributed to a lack of protection during transport from the factory to the wholesaler and from there to the professional customer. The storage situations at retailers and specialist companies are also unsatisfactory in some cases, and handling on construction sites often adds to the problem, meaning that the products are damaged and in some cases can no longer be used at all.”

This scenario offered various starting points for realising sustainability and safety for the profiles. A key starting point for Baukom was the packaging, initially as tubular packaging, then with the help of stable PE film, which in turn was replaced by biodegradable film.