Terminology

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Any use of the terms listed below should give proper credit to Michael Braungart, William McDonough, EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH, and McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry LLC.

BIOLOGICAL NUTRIENT	A raw material used by living organisms or cells to carry on life processes such as growth, cell division, synthesis of carbohydrates and other complex functions. Biological nutrients are usually carbon-based compounds.
CRADLE-TO-CRADLE	A model of industrial systems in which material flows cyclically in appropriate, continuous biological or technical nutrient cycles. All waste materials are productively re-incorporated into new production and use phases, i.e. "waste equals food."
DESIGN CHEMISTRY	Refers to the incorporation of broader scientific and ecological knowledge into existing product analysis and redesign, or into new product design based on Environmentally Intelligent criteria.
DOWNCYCLING	The practice of recycling a material in such a way that much of its inherent value is lost (e.g. recycling plastic into park benches).
ECO-EFFECTIVENESS	Cradle to Cradle Design's strategy for intelligent and healthy materials use, designing human industry that is safe, profitable, and regenerative, producing economic, ecological, and social value.
ECO-INTELLIGENCE	The elegant intelligence of natural systems and processes (such as nutrient cycling, interdependence, celebration of diversity, solar power use, regeneration, etc.).
PRODUCT OF CONSUMPTION	A product designed for safe and complete return to the environment, which becomes nutrients for living systems. The product of consumption design strategy allows products to offer effectiveness without the liability of materials that must be recycled or "managed" after use.
PRODUCT OF SERVICE	A product that is used by the customer, formally or in effect, but owned by the manufacturer. The manufacturer maintains ownership of valuable material assets for continual reuse while the customer receives the service of the product without assuming its material liability. Products that can utilize valuable but potentially hazardous materials can be optimized as Products of Service.
TECHNICAL NUTRIENT	A material of human artifice designed to circulate within industrial lifecycles--forever.
UNMARKETABLES	Products which cannot be consumed or used in either an organic or an industrial metabolism. Safe means of recycling these materials may be currently unavailable due to lack of demand and high cost. In the long-term, these products should not be manufactured. As existing unmarketables are discarded, they should be stored and prevented from contaminating the surrounding environment until a safe recycling process is developed.
UPCYCLING	The practice of recycling material in such a way that it maintains and/or accrues value over time (the opposite of downcycling).
WASTE EQUALS FOOD	The first design principle of the Next Industrial Revolution: all products are seen as nutrients within biological (natural) or industrial (technical) metabolisms.