Product development

Eco-design can be described as the integration of environmental considerations into product development and design. This means taking account of the different environmental issues and concerns at different stages in the product development process. This is a multi-stakeholder process and new processes and tools need to be developed. A life cycle approach is essential.

Decision-making

Tools should be designed to support decision-making at different stages in the product development process - and there is no one tool that is capable of fulfilling the different requirements.

As highlighted above the backbone should be lifecycle thinking. Some degree of judgement is always needed to make a decision over balancing environmental concerns, so a key question is what level of certainty is needed to make a decision?

Different environmental tools are appropriate for different stages of the product development process. Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is the most recognised tool - however this is designed for environmental evaluation rather than creativity.

Is investment better placed in developing new energy efficient washing machine technology and educating users about 'use' issues e.g. energy efficiency (climate change) and powder dosage (water pollution) rather than undertaking another LCA?

Management

The overall goal of integrated environmental product development (IEPD) should be to produce better products that perform as well or better than comparative non-green products in terms of:

o        Function

o        Quality

o        Cost

If companies are going to integrate environmental considerations into the product development process there needs to be clear objectives, strategies, programmes, responsibilities and budgets.

Supply chain

To implement eco-design in many sectors will mean the need to work much more closely with suppliers. Many suppliers to large companies are likely to be small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) that will have low awareness of environmental, legislative and eco-design issues.

For example, as a result of the proposed EC WEEE Directive in the electronics sector, companies are likely to need to implement eco-design programmes e.g. 'design for dismantling', use of fewer components in product design, etc. EC WEEE Directive was passed on 11th October 2002.

Therefore there will need to better co-operation, between the different elements of the 'value chain' if, for example, products are going to be designed to be dismantled.