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McDonough Braungart Launches Cradle-to-Cradle Certification Program

Having helped manufacturers large and small redesign their products for the “next industrial revolution,” McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) has now created a product certification program. The new program recognizes products that conform to MBDC’s Cradle to Cradle? (C2C) protocol. MBDC aims to release the first certified products on September 1, 2005. The C2C certification program seeks to be recognized by government agencies and others as an identifier of environmentally preferable products (EPP). Prior to launching this program, MBDC worked with the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS) on its Sustainable Textile Standard, but that collaboration fell apart in 2003. C2C certification now appears poised to compete with MTS and with EPP programs from Scientific Certification Systems, in the growing field of EPP certification.The C2C protocol is based on the principle that all products should be made using materials that can be recycled indefinitely with minimal environmental impact. Inspired by natural systems, in which nutrients are recycled indefinitely (waste = food), MBDC promotes the use of “technical nutrients,” which are recyclable in industrial systems, and biological nutrients, which are reused in nature. This recyclability requires that biological nutrients and technical nutrients not be intermingled in a product and that […]

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Domtar: An Unequivocal Commitment to Sustainable Forestry

Domtar Inc., based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the third largest producer of uncoated free-sheet paper in North America. It is also a leading manufacturer of business papers, commercial printing and publication papers, and technical and specialty papers. What sets Domtar apart from the crowd, however, is its commitment to producing environmentally and socially responsible, FSC-certified papers, all the way from stem to the market.Domtar owns a total of 455,000 acres of forestland in Canada, of which 75,000 acres are currently under FSC forest management certification. The remaining 380,000 acres are currently under assessment, which is expected to be complete by the end of this summer. In addition to those lands that they own, another 6.5 million acres of public lands are licensed to be managed directly or cooperatively by Domtar. These lands are also currently under assessment, also expected to be complete by the end of this summer. An additional 15 million acres will go under assessment between the end of 2005 and 2006. If all lands pass the assessment phase, there is potential to have a total of nearly 22 million acres of lands under Domtar’s management as FSC-certified.On the manufacturing side, Domtar operates 11 pulp and paper […]

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Administration Announces Weak New Mileage Standards

Amidst rising oil and gas prices, the Bush Administration yesterday announced its new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for light trucks. Environmentalists say the proposed rule changes will do nothing to help American motorists at the pump, nor will they reduce America’s dependence on imported oil. The new standards appear to raise the current light truck standard of 22.2 miles per gallon (mpg) in model year 2007 to a fleet-wide standard of 24 mpg by model year 2011. However, the new standards actually exempt vehicles weighing from 8,500 to 10,000 pounds– such as the Hummer H2, Ford Excursion, and some models of the Chevy Suburban– all vehicles that achieve very poor mileage due to their size. Environmentalists argue that the Bush Administration should make use of the latest in automotive technology and establish a more stringent fleet-wide average standard. Ironically, General Motors is already producing a vehicle in China that achieves 43 miles per gallon. “Instead of harnessing America’s technological know-how to require light trucks and autos to meet a 40-mile per gallon (mpg) average standard,” said Anna Aurilio, U.S. PIRG legislative director, “the Administration has proposed a pathetically weak increase in light truck miles per gallon standards and […]

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