Chapter 4
Embedding a Sustainability Focus
in Packaging Development Processes
Bjorn de Koeijer, Iris Borgman, Jörg Henseler, Roland ten Klooster,
and Jos de Lange
Abstract Despite packaging sustainability aspects often being embedded in companies’ strategic aims, the structured implementation of such targets is limited at
the operational level, where a product’s commercial viability (strategic fit, business case feasibility, and a limitation of commercial risks) and development aspects
(timing issues, material use, and supply chain efficiency) are prioritized over desired
sustainability goals. Packaging acts not as an isolated entity but as a part of a
symbiotic product-packaging combination, of which the development is the shared
responsibility of stakeholders with different backgrounds and interests. With the
development and design process of product-packaging combinations being a concatenation of decisions made by multidisciplinary teams in various organizations, the
structured integration of sustainability-related considerations in product-packaging
development can benefit from a synthesized focus on development teams’ efforts,
decision-making processes, stakeholder interaction and dynamics, and trade-offs.
This research addresses a vision on an approach to explore, understand, and analyze
this field, specifically its key characteristics that act as enablers and barriers of
product-packaging sustainability. This is targeted by interactively modelling the
decision-making processes of product-packaging development, both within multidisciplinary development teams, companies, and product-packaging chains, by means
of a collection of interactive tools. Key within these tools is the ability to address the
multidisciplinarity of stakeholders, the decision-making processes within and beyond
development teams, and the proposed and realized inclusion of sustainability-related
considerations, all within a framework of tacit and explicit knowledge.
The original version of this chapter was revised: The author group was incorrect. The author group
“Kenichiro Chinen, Hideki Endo, Mitsutaka Matsumoto, and Yongliang Stanley Han” has been
changed to “Bjorn de Koeijer, Iris Borgman, Jörg Henseler, Roland ten Klooster, and Jos de Lange”
in the Frontmatter and in the Chapter. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/
10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_44
B. de Koeijer (B) · I. Borgman · J. Henseler · R. ten Klooster · J. de Lange
Department of Design, Production and Management, Faculty of Engineering Technology,
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
e-mail: b.l.a.dekoeijer@utwente.nl
Center for Research in Sustainable Packaging (CRiSP), Enschede, The Netherlands
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability II, Sustainable Production, Life
Cycle Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_4
49
Embedding a Sustainability Focus
in Packaging Development Processes
Bjorn de Koeijer, Iris Borgman, Jörg Henseler, Roland ten Klooster,
and Jos de Lange
Abstract Despite packaging sustainability aspects often being embedded in companies’ strategic aims, the structured implementation of such targets is limited at
the operational level, where a product’s commercial viability (strategic fit, business case feasibility, and a limitation of commercial risks) and development aspects
(timing issues, material use, and supply chain efficiency) are prioritized over desired
sustainability goals. Packaging acts not as an isolated entity but as a part of a
symbiotic product-packaging combination, of which the development is the shared
responsibility of stakeholders with different backgrounds and interests. With the
development and design process of product-packaging combinations being a concatenation of decisions made by multidisciplinary teams in various organizations, the
structured integration of sustainability-related considerations in product-packaging
development can benefit from a synthesized focus on development teams’ efforts,
decision-making processes, stakeholder interaction and dynamics, and trade-offs.
This research addresses a vision on an approach to explore, understand, and analyze
this field, specifically its key characteristics that act as enablers and barriers of
product-packaging sustainability. This is targeted by interactively modelling the
decision-making processes of product-packaging development, both within multidisciplinary development teams, companies, and product-packaging chains, by means
of a collection of interactive tools. Key within these tools is the ability to address the
multidisciplinarity of stakeholders, the decision-making processes within and beyond
development teams, and the proposed and realized inclusion of sustainability-related
considerations, all within a framework of tacit and explicit knowledge.
The original version of this chapter was revised: The author group was incorrect. The author group
“Kenichiro Chinen, Hideki Endo, Mitsutaka Matsumoto, and Yongliang Stanley Han” has been
changed to “Bjorn de Koeijer, Iris Borgman, Jörg Henseler, Roland ten Klooster, and Jos de Lange”
in the Frontmatter and in the Chapter. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/
10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_44
B. de Koeijer (B) · I. Borgman · J. Henseler · R. ten Klooster · J. de Lange
Department of Design, Production and Management, Faculty of Engineering Technology,
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
e-mail: b.l.a.dekoeijer@utwente.nl
Center for Research in Sustainable Packaging (CRiSP), Enschede, The Netherlands
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability II, Sustainable Production, Life
Cycle Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_4
49