What would you find if you examined a typical landfill? Plastic
packaging, diapers, old furniture, carpets, shoes, paper, food
waste and computers. The list goes on and on. Billions of
dollars’ worth of material assets were used to make most of
these products. Food and paper are biodegradable and have value,
since they decompose and return nutrients to the soil. When
these biodegradable items are put in our landfills, their soil
enhancing values are wasted and are the ultimate example of the
one-way “cradle to grave” model. In this model, a landfill or
incinerator is the “grave” for resources that were extracted,
shaped into products, sold and eventually disposed of. Modern
manufacturing is dominated by “cradle to grave” designs, with
more than 90% of material produced in the U.S. becoming waste
almost immediately. Many products are designed with “built-in-
obsolescence”. They are not designed to last and rather than
repair the original item, we are encouraged to trash it and buy
a new one. “Eco-efficiency”, a