Into my inbox every day come press releases about this company putting solar panels on a roof or that one making its fleet more efficient. These incremental steps are laudable but also (1) boring (2) old hat and, most importantly, (3) unlikely to get us the environmental change we need.

It's become an encouragingly common story to see evidence of how recycling can generate more value than landfilling waste. The recent GreenBiz article The Successes Possible from a Jigsaw Puzzle Theory of Recycling outlined one such business model, Donco Recycling Solutions -- a firm constantly seeking innovative uses for scrap or waste from one industry in manufacturing streams of others. In essence, a high value matchmaker who plays a small but meaningful role within the larger puzzle of this untapped system.

I was out to dinner with a friend the other night who described the concept of cradle to cradle as a fairy tale. I had to admit, most days, it seems that way to me as well.