Most manufacturing companies have tested and adopted sustainable design methods to navigate their product's environmental transition. While successful at first in enhancing their environmental performance, these companies later struggle to pursue their environmental transition. This entails mastering two critical competencies: identifying transition unknowns, and fostering adequate design efforts. This action research with an innovative design intermediary - which has completed four sustainable packaging missions - reveals the specific design barriers encountered for environmental transition.

Reusable packaging systems are emerging as a promising solution to combat the growing issue of packaging waste. While consumers generally recognise the environmental advantages of reuse, their actual reuse behaviours may result in insufficient reuse and an unintentional undermining of sustainability efforts. We conducted two creative workshops, created a large number of potential design interventions and further developed them into 16 design strategies for consumers' continued usage of RPSs through thematic analysis. These findings can inspire future research and the development of RPSs.

Sustainable service-product systems (SPSSs) aided packaging-free shopping are expected to promote sustainable behaviour through enhanced user experience. Yet, understanding about this kind of practice is scarce. In this study, we adopted a qualitative approach through observations and semi-structured interviews with fifteen young consumers. The results present three stages of the practice and identify the challenges in each stage, using the practice theory as a theoretical basis. In light of these, the future offerings of SPSSs are proposed.

As the demand for plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) continues to surge globally, understanding the marketing strategies that drive consumer choice becomes imperative(1). This research project, part of a larger study at Massey University, explores the design and packaging of vegan food products, specifically focusing on processed PBMAs and how this influences vegan diet consumption choices in New Zealand vegans. We examined the packaging of vegan processed food available in New Zealand supermarkets and those promoted online, with a focus on processed PBMAs. This informed the development of an online survey including: demographics, motivations for following a vegan diet, and questions related to perceptions and preferences about vegan diets and processed PBMA packaging. The survey was offered to individuals who had previously participated in vegan research at Massey University and followed a strict vegan diet. There were 235 participants of whom 198 completed the survey. This consisted of primarily females (n = 156, 74%) and individuals of New Zealand European descent (n = 159, 71%), aged 18 to 76 years (37.8 ± 12.3). The participants had varying durations of following a vegan diet, with the largest group (n = 87, 42%) adopting it for 5 to 10 years. The primary motivation for following a vegan diet was animal welfare (n = 205), followed by environmental concerns (n = 189) and health (n = 175). Participants were able to select more than one option, suggesting there are often multiple reasons for choosing to follow a vegan diet. Factors influencing purchase decisions for PBMAs included nutrient claims on packaging, with protein having the highest positive influence. Environmental concerns also played a significant role, with eco-friendly packaging and positive environmental claims being important. Packaging images, particularly of the final prepared product, had a significantly positive impact on purchasing decisions (4.12 ± 0.78) where 1 represented a negative influence and 5 represented a positive influence on a Likert Scale. The majority sometimes, or always checked the nutrition information panel (n = 167, 85%) and examined the ingredients (n = 191, 98%). Participants reported concern about the nutritional value of processed PBMAs (n = 94), and reported that they are aware that these foods are classified as ‘ultra-processed (n = 91). This research provides valuable insights into the reasons people choose vegan diets and what influences their choices when it comes to purchasing PBMAs. It highlights the significance of marketing strategies in the plant-based meat alternatives industry. However, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this evolving market, further research is necessary. Future research should consider a wider range of demographics and regional distinctions to better understand how consumer preferences in plant-based diets are changing. This should also include looking at how the market is maturing, with buyers becoming more aware of things like nutrients and the processing of food, which can impact the sustainable food choices individuals make.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been progressively used as an tool to quantify and compare environmental impacts in the food and beverage industry. This paper reviews LCAs on single-use food and beverage plastic products from January 2000 to June 2022. Studies are also analysed in the context of marine plastic pollution which is a global concern. A total of 91 studies were reviewed with 44% conducted for the European region. Findings suggest that most studies follow the traditional approach and structure of LCA with some studies focusing on global warming potential and others incorporating aspects such as life cycle costs and mass-based indicators. A total of 62% of reviewed studies had a cradle-to-grave scope. LCA studies can be influenced by public discourse, for example, the rising concern surrounding plastic marine pollution. From 2019, additional environmental indicators have been included in LCAs wherein the product is a major contributor to pollution. To date, six studies have proposed marine litter indicators. In future years, we can expect further development of life cycle impact assessment methods to reflect concerns in the public discourse. This includes methodologies for assessing circularity or plastic pollution. Furthermore, product foci will continue to follow popular trends.

The information included on food packages has a crucial role in influencing consumer product associations and purchase decisions. In particular, visual and textual cues on processed and ultra-processed products can convey health-related associations that influence consumer healthiness perception and purchase decisions. In this context, the present work aimed to explore the use of health-related cues on the packages of processed and ultra-processed products sold in Uruguay to provide insights for policy making. A total of 3813 products from thirty-four different food categories found in four of the most important supermarket chains in Uruguay were surveyed. The textual and visual information included on the packages as well as the nutritional composition of the products were analysed. Results showed that 67 % of the products included at least one health-related cue. Pictures of culinary ingredients, natural and minimally processed foods were the most frequent health-related cue, followed by references to naturalness and claims related to critical nutrients. The prevalence of health-related cues largely differed across product categories, ranging from 100 to 17 %. The relationship between the presence of health-related cues on the packages and the excessive content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases was assessed using a gradient boosting model, which showed limited predictive ability. This suggests that the inclusion of health-related cues on food packages was not strongly related to the nutritional composition of products and therefore cannot be regarded as a healthiness indicator. These results stress the need to develop stricter labelling regulations to protect consumers from misleading information.

Stakeholders consider aesthetics and sustainability as important aspects of over-the-counter pharmaceutical (OTCP) packaging, and studies show that their interests should be represented more. To address this, a framework which supports designers to develop aesthetically pleasing sustainable OTCP packaging was generated, keeping at its core the stakeholders. The requirements were identified, leading to the architecture development and implementation in a prototype tool. Results provide a degree of evidence that the framework contributes to a user-centred design approach for OTCP packaging.

The sustainability of rigid packaging can be increased by using biocomposites in packaging. Existing frameworks have some limitations such as are made to assess a few aspects, conventional packaging parameters are considered, etc. Biocomposite has a slightly different scenario at various life cycle stages, like the end-of-life cycle process. To assess the sustainability of biocomposite rigid packaging, we must consider parameters related to the biocomposite-based rigid packaging materials life cycle. These are categorised into different aspects of sustainability and life cycle phases.

Packaging waste has become a significant problem in China. The paper stems from growing awareness of packaging and environmental protection.

To explore the perception of Chinese consumers on packaging and sustainability, the research takes Wuzhen as a case, based on the economic situation, industrial advantages and potential for implementing sustainable measures. It also investigates the current situation of packaging design in the town. By using empirical analysis in the form of questionnaire and semi-structured interview, the survey was carried out from three aspects: tourist attitude towards shopping products in Wuzhen, tourist perceptions of packaging characteristics, tourist perceived importance of sustainable. In the end, the paper discusses the packaging design of Wuzhen from the perspective of materials, function and design. This research is aimed to explore Chinese consumers' views of packaging and environmental sustainability and provide insights to the packaging industry to further enhance the effectiveness of environmentally packaging.

This article examines the 1968 decision by the French mineral water company Vittel to use PVC packaging for its main product. This was the first time this type of packaging had been used for a mainstream consumer product. By examining the causes, manifestations, and consequences of this business decision, it aims to show how this model has spread and contributed to the creation of an environmentally damaging waste regime by abandoning deposit systems. The article also seeks to show, through this case, the importance of identifying social and institutional contexts to understand the trajectory of consumer products.

This article draws inspiration from two concepts, which initially appear to be at odds with each other. The first refers to the impact that plastics use has had on the environment and human health, while the second explores the prevalence and continued increase in the use of plastic materials. The manufacturing of plastic packaging will be reviewed to identify appropriate intervention. This article focuses on the future development of PET packaging in South Africa, exploring current literature and legislation which aid in the holistic development of the plastic packaging value chain.

This study aims to generate a referential basis on which the designer can reflect about and explore scenarios during the structural and graphic packaging projects. “Packing Radar (RE)” has been compiled over years of research as it is spread across different sources and areas of expertise. This qualitative research uses content analysis and expert's opinions. The (RE) proposition shows its potential for improvement and diagnosis of sustainable packaging projects, of teaching activities and packaging professionals graduation.

Edible insects have been introduced as a novel protein source. Although the rationales for insect-eating highlight the urgency of changing diets into more sustainable solutions, there is still a need for better understanding how packaging design is related to adoption of insects. Much consumer research has been conducted to understand the acceptance of insects, but packaging design connected to practices has been given less focus. This article looks at packaging as a medium for stimulating adoption and links an empirical study on analogies for packaging design to practices of eating insects.

When assessing the sustainability of a product, an ideal life cycle is considered which could include the “Use” and “End of Life” phases. Does human behaviour affect the environmental sustainability? This paper intends to propose a methodological framework for assessing sustainable behavioural scenarios. The framework will be then developed in a specific case study on Compostable Single Use Products (CSUPs), with the aim of designing the identity of compostable materials for packaging in order to guide consumers to behave in a sustainable way in CSUPs disposal phase.

The environmental burden of packaging is huge. However, redesigning packaging to make it more sustainable without damaging its other functions is not always easy and can have a negative impact on consumers’ choice. In this paper, we adopt a user-perspective and test the effects of packaging appearance and a better eco-label on consumers’ responses. Based on the literature, we designed an eco- label using a traffic light system with an objective sustainability score enabling to compare the sustainability of different packages. The results of our experimental study (N=120) show that while a sustainable (vs. typical) appearance in packaging has a positive effect on perceived sustainability, it has a negative effect on perceived usability. However, we demonstrate that the presence of a high score on the eco-label positively impacts the perceived sustainability of both the sustainable and the typical packages and the choice intentions. This eco-label also enabled to mitigate the negative effects of the sustainable appearance on perceived usability. Designers and policy-makers can use the results of this paper to positively influence evaluations of and choice for sustainable packaging.