This is the second in a seven-part series on what author Gregory Unruh calls
the ‘Biosphere Rules.’ Read
part
one.
Biosphere Rule #1 — Material Parsimony: Minimize the types of materials used in products. Focus on materials that are life-friendly and economically recyclable.
The first Biosphere Rule is Materials Parsimony; and it is, quite simply,
about simplification. It is minimizing the types of materials used in
products. I want to be clear that I’m not talking about minimizing the amounts
of materials. Minimizing the amounts of materials is a different sustainability
strategy — alternatively called eco-efficiency, dematerialization or even
light-weighting. In Rule 1, we're talking about types of materials, and we'll
see why minimizing the types of materials is so important as a foundation for
the biosphere rules.
The power of simplicity is something that human thinkers back through the
ages have understood.
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Aristotle said, “The more perfect a nature, the fewer means it requires for
its operation.”
Jump ahead a couple of thousand years and we have Leonardo Da Vinci saying,
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
And then in the 20th century, architect Mies van der Rohe actually said
what all these other sages were trying to say, with “less is more.”
Of course, the master simplifier of all is the Earth’s biosphere. When you look
at the periodic table of the elements, you are seeing the material foundation of
the visible universe — every visible thing in the universe is made up of some
combination of these fundamental elements. What is amazing is that out of the 90
or so naturally occurring elements available to life, the biosphere was founded
on just four elements — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen —
that make every living thing we see. Organic chemists call this CHON, and it
is the material foundation of life. When you look out the window at nature,
everything you see — from flowers to grass to birds — is built out of just those
four elements. And if you add calcium and phosphorus to the mix, you get
to about 98 percent of every living thing. The amazing diversity of life is
founded on dramatic materials parsimony.
In contrast to nature, when human industrial engineers, materials designers and
chemists look at the periodic table, they see a giant sandbox and ask, “What can
we do with iron? What can we do with cobalt? How can we use chlorine? What can
we make with strontium?” They then innovate new and complex synthetic materials
that are not naturally occurring in the biosphere. Instead of materials
parsimony, what we've gotten since the Industrial Revolution is materials
proliferation. There are thousands of novel materials synthesized every year —
so many that it’s hard to get an actual count. We don't really know the full
extent of material proliferation or its environmental consequences.
When the proliferating engineers look at the periodic table, they wonder, “Why
would the biosphere waste all the opportunities of those other elements?” The
answer is that materials parsimony is the foundation of a functional,
closed-loop production system. Thanks to its standardized materials pallet, the
biosphere can take a cactus, break it down on the spot and use those same
materials to build a jack rabbit or a honey bee or even another cactus. No
sorting or shipping required. Because everything is made from the same
parsimonious pallet, materials are always at hand.
When I present the materials parsimony rule at conferences, I often have
engineers and materials chemists stand up and say that I am trying to stifle
innovation. But that’s not the case. Materials parsimony doesn’t stop
innovation. Just look at the biosphere — materials parsimony has not in any way
inhibited the ability of the biosphere to innovate in ways unimaginable for
human beings. The earth is populated by millions of different species that
inhabit every ecosystem niche on the planet. Nature’s innovation makes human
efforts look like child’s play.
There are important business benefits to pursuing materials parsimony,
irrespective of a circular
economy. Modern
materials proliferation carries many hidden costs in the form of added
complexity. And academic studies on the costs of creeping complexity show that
it is expensive. A white
paper
by global consultancy AT
Kearney
found that complexity in Germany’s top businesses was costing €30 billion a
year, money that could be recovered by simplifying their manufacturing and
supplier relationships. Materials parsimony drives cost savings by concentrating
demand around a smaller number of materials, fostering quantity discounts and
supply chain simplification. And because you’re buying more from your remaining
suppliers, you get better service.
So, how parsimonious can you go? Monomateriality, where products are built with
a single material, is a growing design trend. The “Curv”
technology, for example, consists of 100 percent
polypropylene thermoplastic composite monomaterial sheets, currently used by
Samsonite to create its Cosmolite and Lite-Cube luggage lines. Other
applications of monomateriality are arising in the garment sector and in
packaging solutions. But these are relatively simple products. What about more
complex technologies and systems?
The automobile is a paragon of materials proliferation. Cars are built from
thousands of components and hundreds of different materials, and seem an
unlikely place candidate for monomateriality. But new innovations such as 3D
printing — which can create complex forms from a single material — are opening
new opportunities for circular economists. One of these is Arizona-based
Local Motors, which uses industrial 3D printers to
fabricate cars and public transportation vehicles. While still a complex
product, Local Motors vehicles demonstrate impressive materials parsimony — 80
percent of the car is made in a single print from a monomaterial. Instead of
thousands of components and materials, cars can be made from dozens.
While monomateriality is not yet an option for many products, there are clearly
opportunities to reduce the number of materials in every product. Doing so sets
you up for the next Biosphere Rule – Value Cycling, which we will cover in the
next installment.
Dr. Gregory C. Unruh is the Sustainability Editor for the MIT Sloan Management
Review and author of the new book, The Biosphere Rules: Nature’s Five
Circularity Secrets for Sustainable Profits*. For a limited time, Sustainable
Brands subscribers can download a complimentary digital copy of the book*
here.
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Sustainability Editor
MIT Sloan
Dr. Gregory C. Unruh is the Arison Professor of Values Leadership at George Mason University in the Washington DC Metro area, and the Sustainability Editor for the MIT Sloan Management Review.
Published Oct 21, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST