Many of the environmental, economic and quality impacts of a product are determined during product development through the choice of materials, components, production processes, and performance, use, maintenance and disassembly. EcoDesign, or Design for Environment, is a structured approach for implementing environmental innovation at the earliest stages of product development to avoid unforseen issues later in the product life cycle.

The principles of EcoDesign are sometimes summarised as the "6 RE philosophy", namely:

• Re-think the product and its functions: For example, the product can possibly be used more efficiently thereby reducing energy use and other natural resources.
• Re-duce energy and material consumption throughout the product's life cycle.
• Re-place harmful substances with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
• Re-cycle: Select materials that can be recycled, and build the product such that it can be easily disassembled for recycling.
• Re-use: Design the product so parts can be reused.
• Repair: Make the product easy to repair so life of the product is extended.

In each stage of the life cycle of a product there is the potential to lower resource consumption and improve the products environmental performance.

If you are involved in product design you need to understand how your product impacts the environment. In order to incorporate EcoDesign in your company, let us

• Assist you in implementing eco-design principles in your company
• Aid you in applying eco-design principles to a product of yours
• Develop eco-design guidance and checklists for your product or packaging developers to use in their daily work, and
• Provide you with the tools to assist you develop truely sustainable products

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