Together, they will provide services that will help companies expand their ability to innovate and create higher-quality, more sustainable products and processes, while increasing their profitability. “Material ConneXions’s unparalleled material expertise, commitment to sustainability and global reach make them the perfect partner for this collaboration,” says MBDC co-founder William McDonough. Adds EPEA and MBDC co-founder Michael Braungart, “Cradle to Cradle’s promise of ‘total beauty’ begins with the right material solutions and there is no better place to find them than Material ConneXion.”

Since its publication in 2002, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things – written by McDonough, an architect and designer, with Braungart, a chemist – has had an enormous impact. The new relationship will help to promote and disseminate their design principles, by providing greater global access to Cradle to Cradle material information, certification and product development. As of next January, Material ConneXion’s libraries in New York, Milan, Cologne and Bangkok will feature Cradle to Cradle Assessed and Certified materials, and, in collaboration with MBDC and EPEA, Material ConneXion will offer Cradle to Cradle certification and Cradle to Cradle product development.

By pushing for better product design, smart production processes and a greater use, re-use and recycling of defined, ecologically intelligent materials, companies can incorporate environmentally conscious planning into their own frameworks.