What is the theme in Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough?

There is a big movement today to recycle materials. People collect bottles, cans, books and other materials for their materials to be reused into other materials. There is a general feeling of negativity about consuming products because every use can somehow reduce the prosperity of the earth and possibly endanger the earth with more and more garbage and toxins. However, when products are recycled today, according to general common practice, they are actually downcycled. This means that they are turned into products of lesser value, because most products are an amalgam of various materials that cannot easily be separated out from the original. Because of this, the new products are of lesser value, of lesser quality, than the originals.