LibGuides: Sustainable Product Design: Sustainable design principles

What is sustainable design?

In The Philosophy of Sustainable Design, Jason F. McLennan said designers should "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design." Practical application varies among design diciplines (product design, architecture, landscape design, urban planning, etc.), but they all share some common principles:

Use non-toxic, sustainably produced, or recycled materials which have a lower environmental impact than traditional materials.
Use manufacturing processes and produce products which are more energy efficient than traditional processes and end products.
Build longer-lasting and better-functioning products which will have to be replaced less frequently, which reduces the impact of producing replacements.
Design products for reuse and recycling. Make them easy to disassemble so that the parts can be reused to make new products.
Consult sustainable design standards and guides, (e.g. Design for the Environment),
Consider product life cycle. Use life cycle analysis tools to help you design more sustainable products.
Shift the consumption mode from personal ownership of products to provision of services which provide similar functions. Some examples of companies that have made this shift are Interface Carpets (carpet tiles), Xerox (copier leasing rather than purchase), and Zipcar (car sharing).
Materials should come from nearby, sustainably managed renewable sources that can be composted when their usefulness is exhausted.

Life cycle analysis

Life cycle analysis is an important tool in sustainable product design because it assesses the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from cradle to grave.

The Boustead Model
The Boustead Model is a computer modelling tool for lifecycle inventory calculations.
Circularity: Guiding the Future of Designs
Guide developed by Nike that discusses circularity in all elements of shoe design.
Designing Products and Services with Sustainable Attributes: An Internal Assessment Tool for Product Developers
Describes the environmental impact matrix developed by the Design Work Group of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum.
European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment
European Commission's information hub on life cycle thinking based data, tools and services.
Life Cycle Analysis: A Step by Step Approach
Life cycle analysis (LCA) is the systematic approach of looking at a product’s complete life cycle, from raw materials to final disposal of the product. It offers a “cradle to grave” look at a product or process, considering environmental aspects and potential impacts. This report covers LCA basics, including issues to consider when starting a product life cycle assessment.
Life Cycle Assessment: Principles and Practice
Provides an introductory overview of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and describes the general uses and major components of LCA.
Pathway to Product Stewardship: Life-Cycle Design as a Business Decision-Support Tool
With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Pollution Prevention Division, Tellus Institute has collaborated with 3 companies -- IBM, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), and Armstrong World Industries - to understand why and how life-cycle design is finding its way into business decision processes. [Older document that contains valuable, relevant information].
Sustainable Minds
Sustainable Minds is a comprehensive and standardized system that allows you to credibly estimate, evaluate, compare and track the life cycle environmental and human health performance of products in the earliest stages of design.

For further reading

APR Design® Guide for Plastics Recyclability
The APR Design® Guide for Plastics Recyclability is published to help package design engineers at consumer brand companies and converters create packaging that is fully compatible with plastics recycling systems in North America.
The Circular Design Guide
Developed by IDEO and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.The design thinking approach that underpins this guide allows you to explore new ways to create sustainable, resilient, long-lasting value in the circular economy – giving you the creative confidence to redesign the world around you.
Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute
The Institute develops Cradle to Cradle standards, certifies products, and provides resources for product designers.
Design, Ecology, Ethics, and the Making of Things
Sermon written by William McDonough and given at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York NY on February 7, 1993.
Designing Products and Services with Sustainable Attributes: An Internal Assessment Tool for Product Developers
Describes the environmental impact matrix developed by the Design Work Group of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum.
Embedding environmental sustainability in product design
This guide is intended for Research and Development Directors within retailers, brand-owners and manufacturers. It provides guidance for product design and development teams to initiate and develop a process for embedding sustainability in product design in R&D programmes.
ESPDesign Guide
Our design guide section provides practical information and advice for more environmentally, socially and financially sustainable design of products and services. It includes: Design Strategies; Design Tools; Regulations; Green Labels.
FurnitureLink
Covers all aspects of furniture design, including sustainability.
Getting started as a climate designer
This guide to designing for the climate was developed by Climate Designers. The three parts include: 1) What is climate design? 2) What can you do as a designer? 3) How do you start?
Green Chemistry Resources
Green chemistry, also known as sustainable chemistry, is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle of a chemical product, including its design, manufacture, and use.
The Living Principles for Design framework
The Living Principles for Design framework is a catalyst for driving positive cultural change. It distills the four streams of sustainability—environment, people, economy, and culture— into a roadmap that is understandable, integrated, and most importantly, actionable. Designers, business leaders, and educators can use The Living Principles to guide every decision, every day.
Sustainable product design and development: A review
Sustainable product design and development is a vast field of research. So far, no study has been conducted on the sub-field of research. Typically, each scholar conducts research based on his/her point of view and expertise. This paper aims to compile sustainable product design and development categorization into topics, objectives, methods, and contributions. Based on a literature review of sustainable product design and development, several research sub-categories were found: Process, life cycle assessment, eco-design, design strategies, multi-criteria decision making, performance measurement, customer’s side, and miscellaneous that covers various study areas. This categorization provides benefits to researchers in a category to focus more on choosing the appropriate literature. In addition, it is easier for scholars to identify knowledge gaps in a category for future research. Full citation: Widiawan, K., & Pakdeechoho, N. (2024). Sustainable product design and development: A review. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2951(1), 050010.
U.S. EPA Design for the Environment
EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) works in partnership with industry, environmental groups, and academia to reduce risk to people and the environment by finding ways to prevent pollution.
U.S. EPA Safer Choice Program
Safer Choice helps consumers, businesses, and purchasers find products that perform and contain ingredients that are safer for human health and the environment.
Using and developing products responsibly
Guide to product stewardship projects in Minnesota. Focuses on solar panels, critical minerals recovery, packaging, and boat wrap.