Assessing Relative Sustainability of Different Packaging Sizes

The classical method to compare the environmental impact or eco-burden of different packaging designs is to use life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA requires a functional unit to compare unequal concepts on an ‘equal’ footing, for instance by comparing three 0,5 litre bottles, with one 1,5 litre bottle. Creating this ‘equal’ footing usually ignores the very reason for having the differences in the first place. This paper uses the ecocosts/value ratio, or EVR, as a methodology for dealing with the environmental assessment of packaging design alternatives with unequal functionality, while incorporating their different value. The value is here the price of an existing product, or the Willingness to Pay of a new product design. The EVR model will be applied to several product portfolios, namely for bottled water and for table salt. These portfolios consist of groups of products, where the product, the brand and the retail outlet are identical, and only the contained volume, the packaging design and the value differ. Previous work by the authors demonstrated the use of the EVR method for design choices for a fixed volume of packed product. This paper elaborates who the EVR can be useful in assessing the sustainability of different pack-sizes. It will thus demonstrate how an EVR perspective connects better to business decision making than classical LCA.Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin