PETAL INTENT
The intent of the Materials Petal is to help create a materials economy that is healthy, ecologically restorative, transparent and socially equitable. Throughout their life cycles, supplies and materials are responsible for many adverse environmental issues, including illness, habitat and species loss, pollution, and resource depletion. The Imperatives found in this section aim to drive product designers, makers and users toward a truly responsible materials economy. Living Products should be intentionally made of materials that foster positive impacts throughout the product’s life cycle by reducing the unnecessary extraction of virgin materials, sequestering carbon, utilizing regenerative materials, decreasing existing waste and avoiding the creation of new waste at the end of the product’s life. When impacts can be reduced but not eliminated, there is an obligation not only to offset the damaging consequences associated with creating goods, but also to strive for corrections in industry itself. At present, it is impossible to gauge the true environmental impact of the materials economy due to a lack of product-level information. Still, the Living Product Challenge continues to shine a light on the need for transformative industrial practices.
IDEAL CONDITIONS + CURRENT LIMITATIONS
Ideally, true Living Products should move away from being composed of any virgin petrochemical inputs to renewable, recycled or bio-based inputs. In practice, this decision must be based on an understanding of both toxicological data and life cycle assessment to ensure that seemingly “green” substitutes do not actually have greater negative impact. Living Products should be made from regenerative materials that sequester carbon, helping to slow and eventually reverse climate change. However, these decisions must be balanced against recyclability, compostability, product lifetime, performance and life cycle impact. Living Products should always aim to use inputs and processes that lower their impacts and make use of available resources, or waste products that can be given a new life.
