From cradle to cradle
More and more companies aim to produce their products in line with the so-called cradle-to-cradle principles. Today, we will show you some examples of circular economy - one in the field of electronics an two from the textile industry. All examples show that the circular economy also requires a 'rethinking' attitude by users as well as producers...
The first modular smartphone | Knowledge from architecture or furniture construction allowed for the creation of the first decomposable smartphone. The Fairphone can be easily taken apart by its users. This makes it much easier to repair and expand the phone. If the screen is broken, it can be replaced in 30 seconds. If there will be a new camera in the future, it will be possible to order the camera only and install it yourself. In the ARTE documentation you can see more approaches for more sustainable production of smartphones. Fairphone, for example, was the first electronics company to work with the Swiss company Balerna Fairtrade to use fair trade gold in a smartphone production, thus paving the way for other such electronic suppliers.
Read more about the electronic pioneer Fairphone
Compostable jeans, jeans for rent | According to the cradle-to-cradle principle products should be produced as much as possible with
materials that respect biological cycles. In both of our textile examples, this is the case: Mud Jeans are made of organic cotton, the F-abric pants are made of a very resistant fabric of linen and flax (sourced in Europe). Mud Jeans goes one step further and has developed a distribution system that supports the circular economy. When you buy Mud Jeans you pay an initial fee (25 Euro) and then a monthly usage fee (7.50 Euro per month). When ones Mud-Jeans are returned, they are either refurbished and sold/rented out as vintage jeans or brought to a textile recycling plant.
More about Mud Jeans
More about F-abric by Freitag on day 21.12. of our Adventskalender 2014
Today's chat |
Chat with Fabian Hühne from Fairphone in Amsterdam. The young company has gone through some exiting times and is growing rapidly. Ask Fabian what fairness in IT can mean. Or how to deal with the balance between reaching circular economy goals and the realistic possible steps for a complex product such as a smartphone.
Click here to chat. You can ask your questions from now or "live" from 4 - 5 pm
