Cradle to Cradle® partnership to facilitate step change for creativity and innovation in Australasia
Wellington / Hamburg: 28 September 2018
EPEA and thinkstep Australasia have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the uptake of regenerative design
through Cradle to Cradle® principles in Australasia.
The Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) is the cradle of Cradle to Cradle®, a design and innovation
concept based on the safe and potentially infinite use of materials in nutrient cycles.
thinkstep supports organisations to improve resource efficiency and reduce the environmental impacts of products and
services using quantitative assessments.
By combining quantitative impact assessment using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Cradle to Cradle® design
principles, EPEA and thinkstep support businesses to improve existing products and adopt new approaches to product
innovation.
Moving from a ‘take, make, waste’ economy to a beneficial circular economy requires a paradigm shift from reducing
negative impacts to creating a positive footprint.
The partnership between EPEA and thinkstep is a natural fit based on common ideals and a shared vision for creativity
and innovation to be the catalysts for a step change.
“thinkstep are the ideal Cradle to Cradle® partner because they analyse the impact along the supply chain as well as the
materials used in a product and can define it in a digital world using reliable data. This helps to understand the
systems as nutrients.” says Prof Braungart, CEO of EPEA, internationally renowned author and co-founder of the Cradle to
Cradle® methodology.
“Including the Cradle to Cradle® concept in our projects allows us to create positive change by influencing products and
services at the design stage instead of just reducing negative impacts – or in the language of Cradle to Cradle® – to
move from doing less bad to doing more good”, comments Barbara Nebel, CEO of thinkstep Australasia.
Jointly thinkstep and EPEA help to facilitate step change by offering Cradle to Cradle® and LCA training, a systematic
methodology, certification of products, tracking of healthy materials and calculating material circularity indicators.