The “Management Guidelines for the Eco Design of Plastic Packaging” published by Germany’s plastic packaging industry association Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de) in summer 2019, is now also available in English, with a French translation in the works as well. The guideline was created as a tool for packaging producers looking to design sustainable packaging and is aimed at management in order to get eco design included in the decision-making process from the start. The guideline can be downloaded for free from the website, along with checklists, instructions and illustrative examples.

The IK’s eco design guideline goes beyond the scope of “Design for Recycling”, which is increasingly being demanded of manufacturers, says the association’s managing director Isabell Schmidt. In order to create genuine circularity for plastics, recycling-friendly design needs to be “balanced with other important environmental factors and key functions of packaging.” She adds, “While a number of guidelines and tools for ‘designing for recycling’ have already been developed over the last few years, these guidelines focus on imparting a comprehensive understanding of eco design.”