The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (C2CPII) is seeking comment on a draft of its new Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard (Version 4).

The Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program is a science-based cross-industry standard for safe and circular products, with certification awarded at five levels from Basic through to Platinum. Each higher level imposes a more rigorous set of requirements.

The 60-day public comment period runs from today (5 August) until 4 October 2019, with the new draft requirements covering material health, product circularity, water stewardship, renewable energy and climate, and social fairness.

Among the changes are new general requirements for an environmental management system to be in place at all final manufacturing stage facilities at the Silver level. In addition, applicants must demonstrate that they have made at least one measurable improvement to re-certify at the Bronze and Silver levels.

Within the new material health requirements, the v4 Basic Level Restricted Substance List includes many more substances compared to the v3.1 Banned List, aligning with leading regulatory restrictions.

Product Circularity now calls for circularity metrics and information necessary for proper product handling at end-of-use to be made publicly available via the Materials Passport. And the v3.1 material reutilisation score has been decoupled into two sets of progressively more rigorous requirements to use materials that are compatible with intended cycling scenarios (such as recyclable, compostable, biodegradable); and use cycled and/or renewable materials or communicate why this is not feasible.

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And in social fairness, requirements are now based on a management systems approach. The lower achievement levels aim to ensure that basic human rights are upheld while Gold and Platinum represent best in class performance on social fairness. Changes here include an extension of the v3.1 Basic level risk assessment that considers the final manufacturing stage and its direct (tier 1) suppliers – but will in future include risk assessment for the applicant company.

Click here to view a comparison of the changes between Version 3.1 and draft Version 4; and click here to comment on the draft standard.

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