Cover Story: Closing the Loop
By Marie Redding, Senior EditorAveda’s Vintage Clove Shampoo package, along with its Caps-Collection Program, exemplifies the concept of cradle-to-cradle, or a closed-loop, manufacturing process.
The cradle-to-cradle concept was first spoken about during the 1970s. William McDonough and Michael Braungart popularized the phrase in 2002, when they used it as the name of their book.
Cradle-to-Cradle explains how a package can be designed so that at the end of its useful life, its material becomes used for something new—circulating within a closed-loop industrial cycle instead of being “down-cycled” for lower-grade use.
“We’re committed to designing for the environment,” says Dean Maune, executive director of Aveda Package Development “We’re always thinking about the next life of every container that we make.”
All of the material used to mold the new caps for Aveda’s Vintage Clove Shampoo bottle comes from Aveda’s Caps-Collection program. Once the shampoo is purchased and used, however, the final phase of the closed-loop cycle depends on the consumer. If consumers recycle the caps and bottles separately, both materials will begin new life cycles. If Aveda’s Caps-Collection Program ultimately leads to the creation of a new recycling infrastructure for polypropylene as planned, then there will be a way for every company to have access to postconsumer recycled PP—and to make new caps from old ones.
Maune explains that Aveda’s long-term goal is to continue to reuse more packaging materials, while becoming less dependent on virgin materials and nonrenewable resources. “We have a limited amount of materials and resources on this planet. Following the cradle-to-cradle principles ensures that we will continue to have materials for future generations,” says Maune.
More on Aveda's Caps-Collection Program
Feature:
The Evolution of a Cap
Sidebars:
Web Exclusive: Aveda Prevents Plastics from Polluting Oceans
How Schoolchildren Helped
From the July/August Issue: Aveda's Caps-Collection Project