Eco-design: how to manufacture sustainable products to satisfy consumers

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As the world population closes in on 8 billion, the old "buy, use, throw away" paradigm of the linear economy no longer makes any sense and is driving us towards an uncertain future. Realisation of this has led to the emergence of eco-design, a production perspective that consists of integrating environmental protection criteria into every phase: from conception to development, from transport to recycling.

Eco-design leads to products and services with minimal environmental impact.

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We have good reasons to manufacture better and more efficiently: raw materials and natural resources are finite and, if we are not careful, they will run out. Some, like water, are vital sources of life, while minerals are essential to key sectors of the economy, like the technology industry. Add CO2 and the energy used by manufacturers to the equation, and the price being paid by the planet is unsustainable.

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There's something wrong about a society that uses 7,500 litres of water — the amount drunk by a person in seven years — to manufacture a pair of jeans. This fact, published by the UN in 2019, is the tip of an iceberg that needs solutions like eco-design. It is a new philosophy that considers product sustainability from start to finish, where extraction, manufacturing, distribution and consumer use must all adhere to green criteria.

Eco-design is a linchpin of the circular economy, a strategy the purpose of which is to give products an indefinite life within a closed, waste-free circuit. Designing with sustainable materials means that the goods in the circular economy reach the end of their useful life in a suitable condition to be put to new uses, unlike the buy-use-throw away or 'linear' economy.