photos: d.o.b foundation

Is Waste Food?

A world without landfills? In which waste is either food or gets a second life as a high quality input for technological products? Sounds too good to be true, but a German chemist and an American architect prove that ecologically intelligent design is even good for business!

In 2006 the Dutch TV programme “Tegenlicht” showed the inspiring documentary “Waste = Food”. McDonough and Braungart meet in New York and philosophize about an industrial system that produces goods and services which generate ecological, social and economical value. Products are designed so that after their life cycle, they become ‘food’ for something new.

The fundamental idea: a product must be completely biodegradable and serves as food for natural organisms: ‘biological nutrients’. All non-degradable material will be considered as high-quality building material, ‘technical nutrients’, which will be reused for new products in the technological sphere. During the production process there may be no damaging by-products.

An example of the work of Mc Donough and Braungart is the transformation of the polluting Ford factory to an industrial ecopark which even saved Ford $ 35.000.000. The book ‘Cradle to Cradle’ by McDonough and Braungart is used in China as the handbook for the circular economy.

This philosophy has moved us in such a way that we will be applying this innovative and inspiring method of work to the design of the new dairy factory Tanga Fresh Ltd in Tanzania.

Would you like to watch the programme 'Waste = food'? Watch it here (partially in Dutch).