Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE Packag. Technol. Sci. 2010; 23: 161–175 Published online 4 February 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pts.887 * Correspondence to: E. Svanes, Ostfold Research, Environmental Protection, Fredrikstad, Norway. E-mail: erik@ostfoldforskning.no Sustainable Packaging Design: a Holistic Methodology for Packaging Design By Erik Svanes, 1 * Mie Vold, 1 Hanne Møller, 1 Marit Kvalvåg Pettersen, 2 Hanne Larsen 2 and Ole Jørgen Hanssen 1 1 Department of Environmental Protection, Ostfold Research, Gamle Bedding vei 2b, 1671 Kraakeroey, Norway. 2 Department of Food Safety and Quality, Nofima Mat, Osloveien 1, N-1430 Aas, Norway. SUMMARY This study describes a holistic methodology for sustainable packaging design. This methodology studies the combined systems of packaging and the packaged products across the whole distribution chain from manufacturer to end consumer and the life cycle from raw material extraction to the waste phase. It contains a number of indicators that are grouped into the following main categories: environmental sustainability, distribution costs, product protection, market acceptance and user friendliness. The methodology integrates a number of different analytical methods. It is intended to be used in packaging design and optimisation, for idea generation, decision support and as documentation of properties of existing packaging systems. The study describes experiences with the methodology from one case study in the Norwegian Food Indus- try. The experiences show that the methodology is very comprehensive, and gives a good overview of the properties of a packaging solution. It enables quantitative comparisons between different packaging solu- tions throughout the design process. The methodology reduces the risk of implementing sub-optimal packaging solutions. An additional benefit of the methodology is gained by working in cross-functional teams. One potential drawback is that the methodology can be resource and data intensive. The methodol- ogy can be used as a tool box in packaging design, i.e. it is not necessary to use all methods and quantify all indicators to gain benefit. However, all indicators and requirements should be evaluated and considered. In all cases, it should be considered to include additional indicators if important sustainability issues have not been addressed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 8 May 2009; Revised 11 December 2009; Accepted 18 December 2009 KEY WORDS: sustainable packaging design; distribution chain; product quality preservation; life cycle perspective INTRODUCTION As the awareness that products and services cause serious environmental degradation has increased, attention has shifted from finding end-of-pipe solutions to designing products that prevent such deg- radation from occurring in the first place or reduce such problems. Ecodesign is an example of such an approach; however it is easier to envision than to carry out in practise. The number of environ- mental problems that occur and the number of processes that a product goes through from cradle to grave is great. Hence designers are often looking for tools that are simple to use and give clear and precise answers on a products’ ‘environmental sustainability performance’. Many Ecodesign tools exist, but few studies on their usability have been published. Waage 19 comments that the proliferation of sustainability assessment principles, strategies, actions and tools has created confusion for designers rather than a clear-cut path towards sustainability. What tool should be used for what application? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each tool? How can the usefulness of the tool be evaluated? Rather than presenting a new method, tool, strategy or