Cradle to cradle

Cradle to Cradle

An LCA following the cradle-to-cradle model includes all product lifecycle stages and assumes that the product is fully reused and recycled at end-of-life.

An LCA following the cradle-to-cradle model includes all product lifecycle stages and assumes that the product is fully reused and recycled at end-of-life. This means, that there’s no disposal-phase in the traditional sense. Products either return to nature by being biodegradable or become part of a continuous loop of reuse and recycling. Products calculated this way should ideally be designed to be fully circular.

• The key principle here is circularity, meaning that resources are continuously cycled back into the production system. The cradle (where the product starts) is connected directly to a new cradle (where it goes when it’s no longer needed).

Cradle to Grave

This LCA model follows a linear product life. It also includes all lifecycle stages but assumes that the product ends it life without being recycled.

Products are created (cradle), used, and then disposed of (grave). Once a product reaches the end of its life, it ends up in a landfill, incinerator, or another disposal method, often creating waste or pollution.

Cradle to Gate

In this model, the system boundary is set at the factory gate.
In practice, this means that only the process from the creation of raw materials (cradle) to the point where the product leaves the factory gate (before distribution, retail, or end-user consumption) is included in the LCA. So here, the emissions coming from use phase and disposal phase aren’t accounted for.

This model focuses on the production phase of a product.