EPEA

Van Gansewinkel Groep has a partnership with Prof. Dr.  Michael Braungart, the founder of the Cradle to Cradle concept, and his Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) organisation.

Interview
Braungart: The Van Gansewinkel Groep spider in the Cradle to Cradle web
Knowledge waste services company creates infinite cycles

Waste no more, waste is food. Both the Van Gansewinkel Groep and Michael Braungart say this.  Professor Braungart is the father of the Cradle to Cradle philosophy. The global industrial system has to change quickly. “And the Van Gansewinkel Groep plays a key role in the process of change.”

The German professor Braungart, founder of EPEA, was looking for a partner that could connect the material streams of different companies. He found the Van Gansewinkel Groep.

"The sincerity and honesty of the Van Gansewinkel Groep appealed to me," says Braungart. "They are not only prepared to drive change but they have also reinvented themselves. It is no longer a waste company but a supplier of raw materials that can perfectly manage the several different waste streams. Van Gansewinkel’s logistics knowledge, in particular, is extremely important."

According to the scientist, the Van Gansewinkel Groep makes Cradle to Cradle possible in Benelux. "In addition to providing return logistics, they relate technical product knowledge to knowledge of materials, separation, recycling and processing techniques. As a result the Van Gansewinkel Groep serves as a spider in the Cradle to Cradle web. "

According to the Cradle to Cradle philosophy, waste disappears when products are designed in such a way to enable infinite cycles. "Nature gives the example," says Braungart. "Organic compounds are nutrients for the biosphere. The other materials will end up in the technosphere and can be reused indefinitely, without a decrease in quality."

According to Braungart, products should be designed so that in the waste process they end up in one of the recycle streams. "That will not happen overnight, but it is important that companies start now. We lose more and more of our dignity and our human rights. I mean, we let more than five million children die each year because they don’t have healthy drinking water and it doesn’t need to happen."

Braungart emphasises that Cradle to Cradle is not just a sustainability concept. "Sustainability is not enough. Traditional sustainability means minimising bad products. But less bad is still not good. "

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