By Mari van der Linde

What does it mean?

Well, I will try to explain it in a simple way.

Principle of cradle to grave

Firstly, the term mean, we are responsible for what we created.

Secondly, it also mean that we are responsible for what happen with it after its (our creation) working life has ended.

Thus, we talk about items, any concrete/ touchable item or thing we create.

It also implies that our responsibility does not end where the item lands in the waste bin. It actually continues.

To whom does this apply?

It applies to all of us, thus to industries, retail, mining, government, at home, every single human being is responsible.

Let us look at this point in a little more detail.

Let’s take an example of an industry. It is a manufacturer of chemicals. Obviously, they do create waste. What do they do with it? Because of the principle “Cradle to grave”, they are responsible to ensure that the waste they create and if they dispose it, that it is not harmful to the environment, that it will not pollute the ground, and eventually the ground water. So to prevent or minimize this effect, they need to have some sort of program in place, to either sell the waste to a company who can use it, or chemically alter the waste in such a manner that it is not harmful anymore when disposed of (this is a very simple explanation for some things that are not always practical to do).

On the other hand, in our homes, we create waste on a daily basis – plastic, carton, paper, etc. What do we do with our waste? Do we try to recycle as much as we can, or do we put it in a bin, and forget about it, because it has become the local waste remover’s problem? Sorry, that is not the case; we are still responsible for it, even though it moves out of our hands.

We stay responsible for the things we create, even if it is not in our hands anymore.

Furthermore, we need to realize that the items we use, and the waste we create can be harmful to the environment.

What is the influence of our creations on the environment?

We all know that plastic is bad for the environment, and we need to be more responsible how we dispose it. This also applies to chemicals, and other substances and materials.

Let’s look at a few items.

All these energy saving light bulbs and the fluorescent tubes: What happens if we through them in a bin, and it are moved to a landfill site? Have we thought of this? Do we know what these bulbs and tubes contain, and what happen to the content once the bulb or tube lands on the land fill and are broken?

Energy saving light bulbs contains small quantities of mercury. Now if each household dump one bulb a month and it end up on a landfill, imagine the quantities of mercury that’s being released into the ground.  The same principle applies for fluorescent tubes. The fluorescent gases are released into the air and over and above the fact that it is poisonous to humans – inhalation, it also leads to air pollution.

What about the batteries we dispose daily. Batteries contain acids, which can not only burn humans, but also acidify the ground, and ground water.

Yes, and the argument many follow is, but it is only little bits at a time. That is true, but thousands of batteries are manufactured, sold, used and disposed on a daily bases. Thousands end up on a landfill. And all the little bits of acid, becomes huge quantities of acid.

This is the effect on our environment we do not realize, or completely ignore. And this is why the “cradle to grave” principle applies to every one. Each and every person who does his/ her bit for nature conservation will reduce these accumulative affects of negligent practices.

It starts at the creator of the item, and it only ends, when the graved item is safe for the environment. We need to take the burden of the environment. We need to do what ever we can to make our waste the least harmful or if possible, make it have a positive impact.

A good example of positive impacts is wet waste – fruit peels, vegetable peels, teabags, etc. – when dried, can be worked into a compos heap. This put nutrients back into the ground, and also means that less artificial nutrients (chemicals) needs to be used.

Many countries have worked this into their environmental legislation, but unfortunately, not many applies it as diligently as it is should be. What happens in many countries are, people do what ever they want, until they are caught for some kind of illegal practice, not related to the environment. Then, during investigations, negligent environmental practices also surface and ads to the situation. It rarely starts at the environmental practices.

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