Étude de cas
CALIDA CREATES CLOTHING FIT FOR THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Oberkirch LU – The textiles company Calida has been named among the winners of this year’s Swiss Ethics Award. This can be put down to its completely compostable collection, for which responsibility has been integrated along the entire supply chain.
With its fully compostable collection “100% Nature”, Calida has already signified its commitment to the circular economy. But the clothing manufacturers from the canton of Lucerne are not resting on their laurels; rather, the collection is being steadily expanded. In fact, it is set to comprise more than 200 products by the turn of the year. As recognition for the company’s efforts to protect the environment and promote the circular economy, Calida was named as one of the three prize-winners of the Swiss Ethics Award, which was presented in the spring.
Calida has come a long way to achieve this. After all, the entire supply chain must be taken into account in order for manufacturing processes to be aligned with the Cradle to Cradle principles. Calida has been supported throughout this journey by EPEA Switzerland in its role as an accredited expert for Cradle to Cradle Certified certifications. This partnership was exceptionally valuable in Calida’s efforts to develop pajamas, underwear and t-shirts made from 100 percent cellulose. All the materials used to manufacture these products, including the yarn, label, buttons and dyes have been transparently and scientifically evaluated and found to be good. These also comply with the Cradle to Cradle principles and can therefore be reintegrated in the biological lifecycle.
In this way, the products in the “100% Nature” range are fully biodegradable. Calida will even take them back on request. However, consumers also have the option of putting the textiles on their garden compost heap. The process of decomposition takes four to six months overall.The production of these items of clothing was made possible after a transparent and functional supply chain, the form of which had barely been seen before in Europe, was created in parallel to their development.
Further information can be read here:
Calida
Vögeli
Blossik
Étude de cas
Future-Safe cosmetics from no excuses Lanur
Kilchberg ZH – no excuses LANUR a globally unique cosmetics brand just launched their first future-safe skin care product. The focus here is not only on care. In fact, with a Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD certification, both the cream and packaging promote the benefits of the circular economy.
The impact brand no excuses LANUR is demonstrating that there is no contradiction in terms between safe materials and chemicals on the one hand, and grooming and body care on the other. Both the cream itself and the packaging that the no excuses Lanur product comes in have been awarded a Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD certification. The Cradle to Cradle approach embodies the principles of the circular economy, according to which all materials used in a product are safe for both humans and the environment and can be returned to both the biological and technical lifecycle after use. EPEA Switzerland, the accredited expert for Cradle to Cradle Certified and Material Health Certificate certifications based in Bäch in the canton of Schwyz, has supported no excuses LANUR both in the scientific evaluation of the ingredients its uses and the Cradle to Cradle Certified certification process.
The collaboration has resulted in the launch of the world’s first cosmetics brand to exclusively feature products certified in line with the Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD standard, details of which can be found on LinkedIn. “As an entrepreneur, I have wholeheartedly subscribed myself to the circular economy”, explains Karin Lanz, founder of no excuses LANUR, in her profile on the social networking platform. She adds: “We borrow from nature, we give back to nature”.
The no excuses Lanur brand launched its first product in the form of the Lanolin Repair Balm. This product nourishes dry and broken patches of skin, for example on the lips or hands. Bayonix, a German company that brought the first Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD drinking bottle to market a few years ago, developed the tub for this product. Karin Lanz also collaborated with a circular economy veteran for the cardboard used in the packaging, benefiting from the EPEA Switzerland network in the process. The cardboard has been sourced from Vögeli AG, based in Langnau im Emmental in the canton of Bern, which in September 2019 became the first printing firm in the world to be awarded a Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD certification.
Further information can be found on the website of „no excuses Lanur„.
Étude de cas
Vögeli Creates Clean Food Packaging
Langnau BE – Printed paper and cardboard are often full of toxins. In contrast, Vögeli forgoes the use of such toxic substances in its production processes. The printing company based in the Emmental consistently adheres to the Cradle to Cradle principle. For this, it is able to turn to a Europe-wide network.
Vögeli offers the only printed paper in the world that conforms with the Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD Standard. Today, the Emmental-based company is in a position to offer food packaging made from printed paper and cardboard on a par with organic products, which therefore renders it suitable for use in the circular economy. This applies to paper, adhesives, lacquers and printing inks used by Vögeli.
This innovation has been made possible by collaborating with several partners. For example, the company founded the Print-the-Change cooperative together with the two printing firms, namely KLS from Denmark and Gugler from Austria. As a press release issued to announce the establishment of Print the Change last year explained: “The cooperative’s mission is to share expertise amassed by the founding companies over two decades with regard to healthy, residue-free printing processes, the circular economy and Cradle to Cradle certifications with other printing companies in Europe, conduct joint research, development and procurement activities in addition to working the markets”. The partners are able to fall back on long-standing experience. In this respect, Gugler became “the world’s first supplier of Cradle to Cradle certified printed products” in 2011. Vögeli has now gone one step beyond: as it is the only company to have been awarded a Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD Standard certification, it is now also able to offer solutions in the field of food packaging for organic produce for the first time.
The common path towards sustainable printed products was supported by EPEA Switzerland. The company, which is headquartered in Bäch SZ, supports other firms in various activity areas related to the development and implementation of Cradle to Cradle design concepts. In this way, for example, it helped Vögeli as part of the collaboration to be fully transparent with regard to the chemicals used in its processes and to thereby secure a Cradle to Cradle Certified certification at GOLD level. This ensures that Vögeli is contributing towards a situation in which toxins from paper and cardboard no longer pollute the environment, meaning that these substances ultimately also no longer end up in consumers’ bodies.
Further reading:
Additional information on the companies website. Also, there is a short video summary of Vögeli´s C2C philosophy on YouTube.
