The C2C model can be applied to almost any system in modern society: urban environments, buildings, manufacturing, social systems. 5 steps are outlined in Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the way we make things:

* Get “free of” known culprits
* Follow informed personal preferences
* Create “passive positive” lists – lists of materials used categorised according to their safety level

The X List – substances that must be phased out, such as teratogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic.
The Gray List – problematic substances that are not so urgently in need of phasing out
The P List – the “positive” list, substances actively defined as safe for use

* Activate the positive list
* Reinvent – the redesign of the former system

C2C principles were first applied to systems in the early 1990s by Braungart’s Hamburger Umweltinstitut (HUI) and The Environmental Institute in Brazil for biomass nutrient recycling of effluent to produce agricultural products and clean water as a byproduct.

Nowadays, the C2C principles are being actively promoted by the Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency; which is another organisation directed by Michael Braungart.

While the C2C model has influenced the construction or redevelopment of many smaller buildings, several large companies, organisations and governments have also implemented the C2C model and its ideas and concepts:

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