Cradle to Cradle (2010) is a great read on this subject, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012KS568 . It's written by a couple industrial designers and I suspect it would be widely interesting to the HN audience.

Not a buzzword. Has nothing to do with "aggressive recycling". It's a true paradigm shift. Much better explanation comes from Michael Braungart and William McDonough's Cradle to Cradle book explaining what the difference is.

https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Remaking-Way-Make-Things/dp/14...

I read a book recently called "Cradle to Cradle" (http://amzn.to/Y9iRqm) and it argues against the existing, linear cradle-to-grave lifecycle of consumer items. That instead of taking the "reduce reuse recycle" approach to sustainability, sustainability needs to be achieved from the most basic foundations of design.

It asks the question, what if instead of avoiding waste, we could “eliminate the concept of waste” altogether? What if instead of “working hard to be less bad,” we could create things with completely positive intentions and effects?

Muji is going the right direction with small and achievable design changes to address "high hanging fruit" that actually create substantial impact, though more importantly, they invite the notion that we can live in a sustainable world without reducing our ability to produce and consume to the fullest extent.