What better way to lounge than on colorful, outdoor furniture made of recycled milk jugs! MBDC is proud to have worked closely with Loll Designs on the company’s pursuit of Cradle to Cradle certification. Loll, who sells globally, manufactures unique, all-weather outdoor furniture and accessories made from 100% recycled plastic, and this week the company announced it has achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified™ SILVER for 89% of its product line. Through this certification, Loll is providing a deeper conversation with customers — without them having to wade through a huge stack of bills of material.
Greg Benson, Loll Designs’ founder describes their motivation: “Our customers from across all sales channels are inquiring about the material makeup of our products, asking if they are truly safe for humans and for the environment. Having transparency with our company and our recycled products that we can share with our customers is the right thing to do and utilizing a respected third-party certification like Cradle to Cradle gives Loll credibility. Most importantly to us is that the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute not only certified Loll’s products, but the process with MBDC lays the groundwork for how we can continue to move our sustainability initiatives even further.”
Loll Designs’ products were evaluated on the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program’s five categories: material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship and social fairness. MBDC worked through the supply chain of Loll’s manufacturing partners, sending a signal to industry to raise awareness and truly transform design.
“Loll Designs has put incredible effort into their Cradle to Cradle optimization process and overall design, and this work transcends industry by raising awareness of the materials and ways manufacturers can work with supply chains,” said Jay Bolus, President of MBDC. “In essence, the company has fine-tuned their material sourcing process by working with its supply chain to improve the way manufacturing partners make the products’ materials. We’re thrilled to have been able to assist and guide the team on this journey for creating positively designed furniture.”
Loll Designs’ products attained SILVER recognition on the material health category, optimizing in areas that can prove challenging. Since Loll works with 100% recycled post-consumer material, knowing what exactly is in the material can be difficult. To ensure Loll reached SILVER, MBDC worked closely with Loll’s HDPE supplier to understand what materials they accepted and how it’s sorted. While many of the materials come from food-grade and consumer care bottles, additional testing was done to investigate the base resin material to ensure the input stream wasn’t being contaminated by heavy metals or organohalogens, a class of chemicals that has been associated with serious human health problems and is not accepted in the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program.
The material reutilization category encourages materials to be recovered and kept in continuous cycles. Loll products are not only 100% recycled, but they are also 100% recyclable. However, the HDPE material cannot be recycled with typical curbside recyclables, so to ensure they get recycled properly, Loll encourages customers to send parts or disassembled products back to them. They’ll remove the stainless-steel hardware and aluminum inserts, recycle those, and then send on the HDPE materials to an industrial waste processing facility where they can be repurposed into another useful product. By taking responsibility for products at their end of life, Loll is furthering the circular economy with its take, remake, retake and remake cycle.
Loll Designs’ social fairness approach features an annual hosting of a community-wide creek cleanup and tree planting event which focuses on improving the Lake Superior watershed. The company is also a proud 1% for the Planet member, donating 1% of its profits from Loll’s Lollygagger collection to local environmental organizations; and Loll prioritizes offering a great benefits package and company culture that promotes a healthy work/life balance. For the past two years, Loll has facilitated a bike to work PTO incentive program, and employees enjoy many other opportunities, such as exercise during lunch breaks, working remotely and bringing furry friends to the office.
Loll chose Cradle to Cradle for its third-party verification and criteria against five holistic categories. On this path, Loll is on a continues journey of improvement, optimizing in the five categories before its recertification comes around in two years. The company says the Cradle to Cradle certification process validated all Loll does to enhance these aspects of their company. We are pleased to have such a great advocate paving the path toward better design for our lounging needs!
To learn about the Cradle to Cradle Design Framework and how to get on the path to certification, contact Jay Bolus today.
