Design Methodology: How to gain progress towards more sustainable packaging
Making packaging more sustainable is a continuous process of setting goals, identifying challenges, seeking innovations and assessing progress. This design methodology explains that step-by-step process and organizes a procedure with which meaningful improvements to packaging may be achieved.
This design methodology is intended to align with the system of measurement outlined by the Global Protocol for Packaging Sustainability (GPPS). The GPPS should be used to understand how to measure attributes and indicators, while this design strategies should be used to gain improvements to the measurements of those attributes and indicators. The GPPS may be accessed here.
Prioritize benefits and impacts
Every packaging system has a set of numerous benefits and a wide range of impacts, and in theory a design optimization should seek to maximize all of those benefits while minimizing all of the impacts. In practice, however, priorities must be established. Consider the benefits that are most important to the product, and also consider the impacts that are the most important according to your company’s sustainability strategy. Does your company prioritize the reduction of water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, or other impacts? Progress cannot be measured before clear goals are set.
The functional benefits of packaging systems are different for every product, and while protection is usually considered to be the most important function, there are many other aspects of packaging that contribute to social wellbeing and economic prosperity and should not be ignored when pursuing a more sustainable design. For consumer-facing packages, the consumer experience should be kept in mind as an essential condition of performance. Ease of opening, dispensing, and other use functions are paramount for ensuring that a new package design is viable for sale. Without such consumer acceptability, the best laid plans for design improvements can fail on the market.