Supply Chain

MBDC, Toxnot Collaborate to Optimize Supply Chain, Material Transparency

An end-to-end solution — from supplier to sustainable product certification, designed to clean up products and global supply chains — goes live.

Published 5 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Image: InspiredImages (via Pixabay)

MBDC and Toxnot, two esteemed players in the sustainable products space, today announced a collaboration to help manufacturers with product transparency reporting. Together, Toxnot and MBDC — the creators of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program — will help manufacturers design, build and certify better products.

This collaboration creates an end-to-end solution from supplier to certification. Toxnot allows product developers to collect complex data on the ingredients in their products, even if they are proprietary. Product developers can explore alternative, potentially safer chemicals securely and screen against particularly hazardous compounds. Most importantly, Toxnot lets these manufacturers automatically submit their product data directly to MBDC in a single click.

MBDC, co-founded by world-renowned architect and designer William McDonough and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart — co-authors of the seminal books, Cradle to Cradle and The Upcycle — is the leading assessor for the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program. Cradle to Cradle Certified is administered by the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute, also co-founded by McDonough. Using its library of products and materials, MBDC guides designers and manufacturers through a continuous improvement process to make their products healthier and more sustainable.

Until now, supply chains and chemical hazards have been notoriously difficult to manage — and communicating to consumers and buyers has suffered. The result has been complex and costly; a system that too often loses sight of its higher purpose to clean up supply chains and products.

“Providing Toxnot users with the ability to screen and report against the Cradle to Cradle Certification™ is a huge step toward our goal of trusted product transparency,” said Toxnot CEO Pete Girard. “Manufacturers can feel confident that their products are being assessed by a best-in-class solution; and we are proud to overcome some of the biggest hurdles in material health transparency by connecting the data to the certification in a single platform.”

Consumers and forward-thinking brands are increasingly demanding cleaner, less harmful products and materials. The advent of powerful software platforms such as Toxnot — which simplify supplier engagement around chemicals — and the significant expansion of third-party, peer-reviewed verifiers such as the C2C Certified Products Program is disrupting the way we manage chemical hazards in our products — making it easier to analyze and clean up the world’s supply chains.

"Disclosure of ingredients for products and materials does not always equate to reduced harm for human and environmental health,” said Jay Bolus, President of MBDC. “Our collaboration with Toxnot will provide manufacturers a trusted way to communicate their work toward safer and healthier materials, because the ingredients will have been fully assessed for Cradle to Cradle Certification — while keeping their proprietary formulas secured. This is optimized disclosure for consumers and industry alike to truly further transparency for material chemistry.”