From cradle to cradle

How can we manufacture our products sustainably and without wasting resources? With the innovative "Cradle to Cradle" (C2C) concept, ADLER, Austria's leading paint manufacturer, has found an answer to this future question and taken a further step towards sustainability. With the universal paint ADLER VariColor, the Legno Aqua Oil and the ecological wood protection coatings Lignovit Terra and Pullex Aqua-Terra, four ADLER products have recently been C2C certified.
17 May 2018

NATURAL CYCLES

The vision of „Cradle to Cradle“ is a recycling economy without wasting resources. Here, nature is taken as a model, which knows no waste but only nutrients. If the leaves and fruits of a plant die, they fall to the ground and become humus, which in turn serves the plant world as food. "Cradle to Cradle" translates this idea into production processes in the economy. Once a product has reached the end of its life cycle, it is returned to the natural or technical cycle by composting or recycling.

HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE

"Sustainability is one of the central focuses of our research and development work," explains Dr. Albert Rössler, head of this division at ADLER. He was fascinated not least by the holistic perspective of "Cradle to Cradle": "Until now, people have been used to only looking at a product for the duration of its life cycle; the fact that it ends up going to waste and valuable resources are destroyed as a result was not the focus of product design. C2C stands for innovation and quality, but also embeds the product in a continuous cycle of materials and nutrients – this is true sustainability and eco-effectiveness!" enthuses Rössler.

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

In order to obtain the coveted "Cradle to Cradle" distinction, his team had to satisfy a strict certification process. The recyclability of all ingredients and the use of exclusively environmentally friendly and non-hazardous materials must be proven, among other things. In addition, an environmentally benign, climate- and water-friendly production process must be guaranteed.
ADLER managed to fully satisfy all of these requirements for its ecological products and thus obtained the C2C certificate for four products: for the universally applicable acrylic paint ADLER VariColor in all colour shades of the Color4You mixing system; for Legno Aqua Oil, a high-quality and natural oil for all furniture, floors and interior fittings; and for the wood protection transparent wood finishes Lignovit Terra and Pullex Aqua-Terra, which make ecological coatings possible outdoors. "Ecology and sustainability have always been extremely important to ADLER", explains Managing Director Andrea Berghofer. "It makes me proud, therefore, that we can now offer our customers four products that meet the highest standards in this respect.

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