MBDC is a consultancy founded in 1995 by William McDonough and Michael Braungart to reorient the design of products, industrial processes and systems to provide financial, environmental and societal benefits.

MBDC has created Cradle to Cradle™ Design, a leading strategy for business to realize practical and profitable sustainable product development. This paradigm provides a unique vision, process and tools for optimizing quality and expanding industry leadership. The firm recently launched its Cradle to Cradle™ Certification program, which evaluates and certifies the quality of products based on Cradle to Cradle™ Design principles by measuring their positive effects upon the environment, human health and social equity.

Cradle to Cradle™ Design is an innovative approach to sustainability that models human industry on the integrated processes of nature’s biological metabolism --its productive ecosystems -- by developing an equally effective technical metabolism, in which the materials of human industry safely and productively flow. Products can be developed for closed-loop systems in which every ingredient is safe and beneficial -- either to biodegrade naturally and restore the soil, or to be fully recycled into high-quality materials for subsequent product generations, again and again. Utilizing biological nutrients and technical nutrients allows a company to eliminate the concept of waste and recover value, rather than creating a future solid waste problem and relinquishing material assets by delivering a product to a customer.

Companies can lead their industries by adopting and pursuing a cradle-to-cradle strategy for product development, operations and corporate decisionmaking, proactively responding to growing market demand and stakeholder concerns. MBDC can assist a company in understanding and applying Cradle to Cradle™ Design within speciflc activity areas or across the entire enterprise to pursue various business benefits:

• Liability and risk reduction
• Regulatory cost reduction
• Product and service innovation
• Product and brand differentiation
• Customer relationships extending beyond the sale
• Increased competitive advantage
• Tangible social responsibility

MBDC engages clients at all levels, from materials research and product design to vision and strategy development. Engagements range from presentations introducing cradle-to-cradle principles and benefits, to product assessment and optimization, material and product certification, and industry-specific research. MBDC's clients include some of the largest, most innovative corporations in the world, as well as smaller forward-thinking companies and government agencies.

For more information, visit MBDC's website >>