2020-11-17

ALUPROF Awarded Cradle to Cradle Certificate

We are delighted to announce that ALUPROF S.A. has received another prestigious milestone in the sustainability of our products. This time, it was awarded Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM at the Bronze level for its Aluprof Modular Aluminum Façade-, Window- and Door system by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, which is “dedicated to powering innovation for the circular economy through products that have a positive impact on people and planet”1.

The Cradle to Cradle concept

The Institute outlines the function of the certification as follows:

Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is a globally recognized measure of safer, more sustainable products made for the circular economy. Product designers, manufacturers and brands around the world rely on the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard as a transformative pathway for designing and making products with a positive impact on people and planet. (…) a growing number of brands, organizations and standards also recognize Cradle to Cradle Certified as a preferred product standard for responsible purchasing decisions2.

The underlying concept of Cradle to Cradle is for every part of every product to be recyclable. The principle was set out by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart in a book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002). There, they describe the idea of moving away from the industrial model of cradle to grave where a product’s life cycle ends with the removal of the waste that it leaves, in other words, a cycle of production > use > waste removal. The new doctrine posits the reuse of materials previously used in products and a shift to a circular economy. Cradle to Cradle suggests that industry should protect and enrich ecosystems and nature’s biological metabolism. At the same time, it should maintain a safe and efficient product life cycle.

ALUPROF’s Bronze Cradle to Cradle Certified™ systems

The certification is not obligatory. However, ALUPROF carried out the necessary assessments, which not only encompassed its production process and management methods, but also subjected its system design process and suppliers to in-depth analysis. The assessment was conducted by experts from SGS, “the world’s leading inspection, verification testing and certification company”3.

In order to obtain a Cradle to Cradle certification, products must undergo an assessment covering five crucial performance categories, namely, “material health, material reuse, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness”4. An achievement level of Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum is assigned in each of the five categories. The levels represent increasingly rigorous criteria and the levels are intended to encourage continuous improvement over time, with renewal of the certification required every two years.

ALUPROF’s MB-SR50N HI+ façade system and its MB-86 SI, MB-86 Casement, MB-86 ST, MB-70, MB-70 HI and MB-70 Casement window and door systems are all now Cradle to Cradle Certified™ at the Bronze level.

The scope of the certification

Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM includes the assessment of organizational management methodes over its value and supply chains to innovate and optimize materials and products according to the world’s most advanced science-based measures for material health, product circularity, renewable energy and climate, water and soil stewardship, and social fairness.

  • The material health category helps to ensure products are made using chemicals that are as safe as possible for humans and the environment by leading designers and product developers through a process of inventorying, assessing and optimizing material chemistries. As a step towards full certification, manufacturers may also earn a separate Material Health Certificate for products that meet Cradle to Cradle Certified™ material health requirements.
  • The material reutilization category aims to eliminate the concept of waste by helping to ensure products remain in perpetual cycles of use and reuse from one product use cycle to the next.
  • The renewable energy & carbon management category helps to ensure products are manufactured using renewable energy so that the impact of climate changing greenhouse gases due to the manufacturing of the product is reduced or eliminated.
  • The water stewardship category helps ensure water is recognized as a valuable resource, watersheds are protected, and clean water is available to people and all other organisms.
  • The aim of this category is to design business operations that honor all people and natural systems affected by the manufacture of a product.


Further information about the institute and certification can be found at https://www.c2ccertified.org/.

1 https://www.c2ccertified.org/about/about

2 https://www.c2ccertified.org/get-certified/product-certification

3 https://www.sgs.com/en/our-company/about-sgs/sgs-in-brief

4 https://www.c2ccertified.org/get-certified/product-certification