回收理念再思考

    2002年，著名的环保建筑师比尔•麦克唐纳和他的业务伙伴，即环境化学家、前绿色和平组织（Greenpeace）活动家、德国人迈克尔•布朗嘉合作撰写了一部开创性的著作《从摇篮到摇篮：重塑人类生产方式》（Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things）。自出版以来，受这本书影响的人不仅包括整整一代工业设计师和首席可持续发展官，还包括一些知名的CEO。《从摇篮到摇篮》一书声称，一家公司仅仅变得更有效率是不够的——它还必须从根本上改变产品设计环节，从而使产品的生产方式更具可持续性。

    尽管两位作者付出的这番努力令人印象深刻，但如今大多数产品的设计仍然秉持着“从摇篮到坟墓”的理念，它们的生命周期是制造、使用，然后扔掉。相比之下，设计一款从摇篮到摇篮的产品所使用的均是能够回收或者安全地归于泥土的材料，从而一举消除浪费现象。赫曼米勒（Herman Miller）、福特（Ford）、宝洁（P&G）和萧氏地毯（Shaw Carpets）这样一些具有前瞻性思维的公司已经部分采用了这种激进的方式。几年前，萧氏地毯公司设计了一款从摇篮到摇篮的办公椅，材质安全到了能够咽下肚子的程度（如果你真有这个胃口，我猜你的确是饿坏了）。

    《从摇篮到摇篮》出版11年之后，两位作者又推出了这本书的续本《升级回收》（The Upcycle）。那些还没有读过《从摇篮到摇篮》的读者将有机会聆听作者以令人耳目一新的方式重述自己的设计哲学。这些读者将接触一些首部著作已经详细阐述过的重要概念，比如，“好设计将带来物质的丰裕，材质的无尽再利用，以及精神的欢愉，”比如“废弃物即食物（waste is food）”，再比如“减少浪费也不管用”（less bad is no good）。

    然而，那些已经熟知麦克唐纳和布朗嘉首部著作的读者会发现，这本新书在整体理念上并没有多少新东西。大家确实能够看到的是，他们对自己过去10年来的进步所做的深刻分析。他们创造了麦克唐纳和布朗嘉认证流程，这个流程有助于公司充分思考从摇篮到摇篮产品的设计步骤。他们还向产业界赠送了安全的，从摇篮到摇篮的化学品名录。编撰这份名录耗费了他们数年时间。

    读者的确能够以更广泛的视角及时审视升级回收概念。作者认为，不是将原材料重新应用于那些在价值链中位置越来越低的产品（想一想用于制造桌子，甚或卫生纸的树木），而应该重新设定原材料的用途，使其应用于价值等于、甚至更高的产品。这就是升级回收的精髓。这类产品的设计理念是，原材料能够永续使用，再使用，或者能够安全地归还给地球。

    升级回收很难做到。这本书陈述的一个引人注目的案例研究恰恰彰显了升级回收之难。当初Steelcase公司寻找一种能够替代PVC（一种可引发致癌隐患、排出有毒气体的材料）的材料时，这家家具制造商选择了一种名为TPU、更加安全、进而可升级回收的塑料。然而，Steelcase公司进一步研究后发现，制造TPU最终将排放更多的温室气体，尽管其生产和生命周期比PVC更长。怎么办？ Steelcase公司判定，相较于坚持使用一种更节能、但有毒的原材料，在生产设施中使用更多的可再生能源是减少碳排放的更好方式。

    这是一项颇有价值的案例研究。读者或许希望这本书能够讲述更多诸如此类的案例，特别是那些从经济学角度仔细审视了从摇篮到摇篮工程的例证。尽管如此，我们不能错误地追随这两位激进的思想家看似生动的思维过程。所以，我建议你买一本，看完后传给下一位朋友，这也算是你亲身体验了一次升级回收的进程吧。（财富中文网）

    译者：任文科

    In 2002, the renowned green architect Bill McDonough and his German business partner, Michael Braungart, an environmental chemist and former Greenpeace activist, wrote the groundbreaking book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Since its publication, the book has influenced not only an entire generation of industrial designers and chief sustainability officers but some notable CEOs. Cradle to Cradle argued that it's not enough for a company to become more efficient -- it must radially alter the way it designs products to make them more sustainable.

    Despite the authors' impressive efforts, most products today are still designed to be "cradle to grave." They are made, used, and thrown away. By contrast, a cradle to cradle product is designed of materials that can be recycled or returned safely to earth. Waste is eliminated. A few forward thinking companies such as Herman Miller (MLHR), Ford (F), P&G (PG), and Shaw Carpets have adopted in part this radical approach. A few years back, Herman Miller designed a cradle-to-cradle office chair made of materials safe enough to eat. (I suppose you'd have to be really hungry.)

    Eleven years after the publication of Cradle to Cradle, the authors have written a sequel called The Upcycle. Those who haven't already read Cradle to Cradle will be rewarded with a refreshed retelling of the authors' philosophy. They will be exposed to important notions expounded upon in the first book such as "Good design would allow for abundance, endless reuse, and pleasure" or "waste is food" or "less bad is no good."

    Yet those already familiar with McDonough and Braungart's book will find little that's new here in terms of their overall philosophy. What you do get are insights into the progress they've made over the last decade. They've created the McDonough and Braungart certification process, which helps companies think through the steps of doing cradle to cradle design. They've also given away to industry their catalogue of safe, cradle to cradle chemicals, work that has taken years to compile.

    And one does get a broader and updated examination of the concept of upcycling. The authors argue that instead of reusing materials in products that end up lower and lower on the value chain (think of the tree that goes to a table to toilet paper) materials should be repurposed into products of equal or greater value. That's the gist of upcycling. Such products are designed to be used and reused forever or safely be put back in the earth.

    Upcycling is hard to do, and the book presents a compelling case study that shows just how hard. When the furniture maker Steelcase (SCS) was looking to replace PVCs, which is a carcinogenic precursor and will off-gas toxins, it turned to a plastic called TPU which was safer and therefore could be upcycled. Upon further study Steelcase found that making TPUs ended up emitting more greenhouse gasses though its manufacturing and lifecycle than PVCs. What to do? Steelcase decided it was better to try to offset the carbon by using more renewable energy at its facilities than to stick with a more energy efficient, yet toxic material.

    This was a valuable case study, and one wishes there were more of them in this book, especially examples examining the economics of cradle to cradle engineering. That said, one can't go wrong following the lively thought processes of these two radical thinkers. So buy this book and pass it on to a friend when you're done and engage in a little of your own upcycling.