The aim of the thesis was to show that it is possible to develop a sustainable product of a discarded material and provide a framework for how to do that. A great amount of discarded material is today put on landfill due to its low value and difficulties to use. But putting the waste on landfill is the least preferred way of handling it, especially when the resources in the world are not infinite. It is therefore of importance that we find another way of handling the discarded material, which is why this thesis was written.  During the work has a qoute by McDonough and Braungart (2002) been kept in mind, reminding us, as product designers,  of the responsibilty we have  for future generations well-being.  “How can we love the children of all species– not just our own – for all time?” – McDonough and Braungart. 2002. Remaking the way we want things, pp 168. This thesis consisted of three phases. In phase 1 the plastic WEEEBR (a recycled plastic blend from waste from electrical and electronic equipment) was evaluated and a suitable product for it was found. Phase 2 started with a market research trying to find a market opportunity for that product. Thereafter several concepts for the product was developed. The last phase, phase 3, analyzed and evaluated the two previous phases in order to summarize the process and develop a method for how to put requirements on future products.   Phase 1 and 2 are shortly described, thereafter follows the analysis of them. The proposed method are exemplified with concepts and results from phase 1 and 2. The result of the thesis was a method based on following 6 steps: Agree to the company’s vision Evaluate what available material you have Evaluate your technical possibilites with the material Highlight a market possibility Set product requirements Develop the concept This method is generic and shall be used as a guide when developing sustainable products. Developing sustainable products include thinking about what material you have. It is worth thinking about if the product shall be produced locally, with local material and also how the material should be handled after it is used and at last where it ends up. / Waste to Design / Closing the loop

There is an increased awareness of the textile dyeing and finishing sector’s high impact on the environment due to high water consumption, polluted wastewater, and inefficient use of energy. To reduce environmental impacts, researchers propose the use of dyes from natural sources. The purpose of using these is to impart new attributes to textiles without compromising on environmental sustainability. The attributes given to the textile can be color and/or other characteristics. A drawback however, is that the use of bio-sourced dyes is not free from environmental concerns. Thus, it becomes paramount to assess the environmental impacts from using them and improve the environmental profile, but studies on this topic are generally absent. The research presented in this thesis has included environmental impact assessment, using the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool, in the design process of a multifunctional polyester (PET) fabric using natural anthraquinones. By doing so an eco-design approach has been applied, with the intention to pave the way towards eco-sustainable bio-functionalization of textiles. The anthraquinones were obtained from the root extracts of the madder plant (Rubia tinctorum L.), referred to as madder dye. The research questions were therefore formulated related to the use of madder dye. Three research questions have been answered: (I) Can madder dye serve as a multifunctional species onto a PET woven fabric? (II) How does the environmental profile of the dyeing process of PET with madder dye look like, and how can it be improved? (III) What are the main challenges in using LCA to assess the environmental impacts of textile dyeing with plant-based dyes? It is concluded that there is a potential for the madder dye to serve as a multifunctional species onto PET. Based on the encouraging result, a recommendation for future work would be to focus on the durability of the functionalities presented and their improvement potential, both in exhaustion dyeing and pad-dyeing. LCA driven process optimization of the exhaustion dyeing enabled improvement in every impact category studied. However, several challenges have been identified which need to be overcome for the LCA to contribute to the sustainable use of multifunctional plant-based species in textile dyeing. The main challenges are the lack of available data at the research stage and the interdisciplinary nature of the research arena. It is envisaged that if these challenges are addressed, LCA can contribute towards sustainable bio-functionalization of textiles. / Le secteur de la teinture et de l’ennoblissement textile est de plus en plus conscient de son impact sur l’environnement dû principalement à la consommation élevée de l’eau et à sa pollution, et aux pertes d’énergie. Pour réduire ces impacts, les chercheurs proposent l’utilisation de molécules issues de ressources naturelles, pour traiter les textiles en limitant les impacts sur l’environnement. C’est le cas pour l’obtention de textiles colorés ou pour l’attribution de toute autre fonctionnalité. Cependant, il n’est pas évident que ces molécules bio-sourcées n’aient aucun impact sur l’environnement. On comprend l’importance d’évaluer les impacts de leur utilisation et d’améliorer leur profil environnemental. Or ce type d’étude est peu présent dans la littérature. La recherche présentée dans cette thèse comporte l’évaluation des impacts environnementaux en utilisant l’outil d’analyse du cycle de vie (ACV) pour la conception du traitement d’un tissu de polyester (PET) multifonctionnel avec des anthraquinones naturelles. La méthodologie d’éco conception que nous avons appliquée ouvre la voie à une bio-fonctionnalisation des textiles plus respectueuse de l’environnement. Les anthraquinones ont été obtenues par extraction des racines de plantes de garance et constituent le colorant appelé garance. Les trois questions principales abordées lors de ce travail de recherche sont formulées autour de l’utilisation de la garance : (I) Peut-on traiter les tissus de PET avec de la garance pour obtenir des propriétés multifonctionnelles ? (II) Quel est le profil environnemental du procédé de teinture du PET par la garance et comment l’améliorer ? (III) Quels sont les principaux challenges pour l’utilisation de l’ACV dans l’évaluation environnementale du traitement des textiles par des colorants naturels? Nous avons montré que la garance peut être utilisée pour conférer des propriétés multifonctionnelles au PET. Ensuite, nous avons pu orienter notre étude pour améliorer la durabilité des traitements par les procédés de fonctionnalisation à la fois par épuisement ou par foulardage. En s’appuyant sur l’ACV, l’optimisation de la teinture que nous avons réalisée réduit tous les impacts sur l’environnement. Cette étude nous permet d’identifier les challenges qui doivent être surmontés pour que l’ACV puisse contribuer à l’utilisation de bio-molécules pour la teinture des textiles dans le respect des principes de développement durable. Ils concernent le manque de données pour ces travaux de recherche et leur nature interdisciplinaire. Ainsi, en résolvant ces questions, on peut envisager aboutir à une bio- fonctionnalisation des textiles respectueuse de l’environnement. / Den höga miljöpåverkan från textilfärgning och efterbehandling, på grund av hög vattenförbrukning, dess förorening, och ineffektiv användning av energi, är idag välkänt. För att minska miljöpåverkan föreslår forskningsvärlden användning av färgämnen från naturliga resurser. Syftet med att använda dessa är att ge nya attribut till textilier utan att göra avkall på miljömässig hållbarhet. Attribut som ges kan vara färg och/eller andra egenskaper. En nackdel är dock att användningen av bio-baserade färgämnen är inte fri från att belasta miljön. Det blir därför av största betydelse att bedöma denna miljöpåverkan och förbättra miljöprofilen. Sådana studier är dock i allmänhet sällsynta. Studien som presenteras i denna avhandling har inkluderat miljöpåverkans- bedömning, med hjälp av livscykelanalys (LCA), i designprocessen av en multifunktionell polyester (PET) väv via naturliga antrakinoner. Genom att göra så har ett eko-design tillvägagångssätt använts, med avsikt att bana väg för miljömässigt hållbar bio-funktionalisering av textil. Antrakinonerna erhölls från rot extrakt av växten krapp (Rubia tinctorum L.), och hänvisas till som krapp färgämne. Frågeställningar var därför formulerade relaterat till användningen av krapp färgämne. Tre forskningsfrågor har besvarats: (I) Kan krapp färgämne verka multifunktionellt på en PET väv? (II) Hur ser miljöprofilen ut, från färgningsprocessen av PET med krapp färgämne, och hur kan den förbättras? (III) Vilka är de största utmaningarna med att använda LCA för att bedöma miljökonsekvenserna av textilfärgning med växtbaserade färgämnen? Det kan konkluderas att det finns potential för krapp färgämne att verka multifunktionellt på PET. Baserat på uppmuntrande resultat är en rekommendation för det framtida arbetet att fokusera på kvalitén hos de attribut som presenterats och deras förbättringspotential, både i färgning via färgbad och via foulard. LCA driven processoptimering av textilfärgningen förbättrade i varje miljöpåverkans- kategori som studerats. Emellertid har flera utmaningar identifierats som måste  övervinnas för att LCA skall kunna bidra till en hållbar användning av multifunktionella växtbaserade färgämnen för textil. De största utmaningarna är bristen på tillgängliga data i forskningsstadiet och den tvärvetenskapliga forskningsarenan. Det är tänkt att om dessa utmaningar bemästras kan LCA bidra till en hållbar bio-funktionalisering av textil. / <p>Disputationen kan följas via länk i sal U401b, Textilhögskolan, Högskolan i Borås</p> / Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate program: Sustainable Management and Design for Textiles

Ces dernières années, les législations dans le domaine du textile et de l’environnement se sont multipliées. Au niveau européen, les directive IPPC , REACH, ont obligé les industriels Européens à prendre en compte les aspects environnementaux de leurs produits et services. En France, suite au Grenelle de l’environnement, de nouvelles obligations apparaissent concernant les déchets textiles ou l’affichage environnemental (Grenelle environnement 2011). Parallèlement, une prise de conscience internationale de la nécessité de concevoir des produits limitant l’utilisation de ressources non renouvelables et diminuant leur impact environnemental, est apparue. L’éco conception implique la mise en oeuvre de nouvelles matières et de nouveaux procédés. L’ACV, analyse du cycle de vie est un outil qui permet l’évaluation des impacts environnementaux. Cette thèse a été lancée par Bureau Veritas CODDE et le laboratoire GEMTEX, suite à l’identification d’un besoin significatif de développement de données et méthodologies ACV pour le secteur du textile. En effet, les méthodologies et les outils existants ne sont pas adaptés à l’évaluation de l’impact environnemental des produits textiles car le secteur présente des caractéristiques spécifiques contraignantes. Ces outils doivent permettre autant aux concepteurs, qu’aux fabricants et distributeurs de réaliser des ACV à des niveaux de granulométrie différents. / In recent years, the European textile industry and textiles imports have had to comply with an increasing number of environmental policies. Emissions from industrial installations have been subject to EU-wide legislation for over 10 years: the IPPC Directive, the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)… Since 2007, European textile producers also have to comply with a substantial number of obligations under REACH. Furthermore, in France environmental labelling for certain convenience goods (including textile products) might become mandatory in 2020. In parallel, national awareness appeared on the necessity of designing consumer products with limited use of natural resources and decreased the environmental impacts. Eco-design involves the implementation of new materials and new processes. Life Cycle Assessment, LCA, is a tool that enables the assessment of environmental impacts. This thesis was initiated by Bureau Veritas CODDE Company and the GEMTEX laboratory, following on the identification of a significant need for the development of LCA data and methods in the textile sector. This is because the existing methods and tools are not suitable for the environmental impact assessment of textile products since the textile sector presents specific constraining characteristics. These tools should enable designers, manufacturers and retailers to perform LCA on their products.

Face aux enjeux environnementaux actuels, s’investir dans les énergies renouvelables au nom de la « transition énergétique » est l’alternative la plus adoptée par de nombreux pays. Les énergies renouvelables, en particulier l’énergie photovoltaïque, sont ainsi devenues des secteurs concurrentiels innovants en pleine expansion. Dans ce contexte, il est donc nécessaire de s'assurer que les nouvelles technologies PV, qui sont complexes et issues de plusieurs étapes de fabrication, répondent aux critères d'un produit peu impactant pour l’environnement, dénommé ici éco-conçu. L’état de l’art sur l’éco-conception montre que la prise en compte des contraintes environnementales dans les projets de R&D à échelle TRL « Technology Readiness Level » bas est encore un phénomène émergent, pour les raisons suivantes : d’une part l’évaluation de l’impact environnemental est relativement complexe pour une technologie non mature en cours de développement (TRL bas) ; ses caractéristiques et procédés de fabrication n’étant pas encore tous connus ; d’autre part les outils identifiés présentent plusieurs écueils qui limitent leur intégration dans les organismes PV de R&D.Ce travail de recherche vise donc à développer une méthodologie pour permettre l’intégration pérenne de l’éco-conception dans les organismes de R&D, pour accompagner leurs partenaires industriels dans leur effort d’innovation et de compétitivité.La méthode développée est ainsi basée sur le principe d’estimation des taux d’évolutions techniques, économiques et environnementales d’une nouvelle technologie (TRL bas) par l’intermédiaire d’une base de données de référence. La construction de cette dernière s’appuie sur l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie (ACV) comme outil de pilotage pour fournir des résultats fiables, malgré le faible niveau TRL.Pour intégrer de façon pérenne cette approche au sein des organismes de R&D, la méthode développée a été implémentée dans un outil informatique « ECO PV » dédié aux systèmes PV en silicium cristallin, qui constituent plus de 90% du marché PV actuel. Basé sur le principe de démocratisation des connaissances environnementales et de la capitalisation des informations, cet outil est accessible non seulement aux experts en ACV mais aussi à l’ensemble des ingénieurs du domaine PV.Ce travail de recherche a enfin permis d’une part de générer des premiers résultats à la fois fiables, simples et quantifiés, et de développer une méthodologie d’éco-conception pour orienter les choix technologiques des projets dans les phases amont de R&D, afin de développer des systèmes PV plus respectueux de l’environnement. / Faced with current environmental challenges, investing in renewable energies in the name of the "energy transition" is the alternative most adopted by many countries. Renewable energies, in particular photovoltaic solar (PV) energy, have thus become innovative and competitive sectors in full expansion. In this context, it is therefore necessary to ensure that new PV technologies, which are complex and the result of several manufacturing stages, meet the criteria of a product with low environmental impact, referred here as eco-designed.The state of the art on eco-design shows that the consideration of environmental constraints in R&D projects with low TRL "Technology Readiness Level" is still an emerging phenomenon, for two main reasons. On the one hand, environmental impact assessment is relatively complex for a non-mature technology under development (TRL low) because its characteristics and manufacturing processes are not yet fully defined. On the other hand, the identified tools in the literature have several limitations that impede their appropriation in R&D organizations.This research work therefore aims to develop a methodology to enable the sustainable integration of eco-design into R&D organizations, supporting their industrial partners in innovation and competitiveness. Thus, the developed method is based on the estimation of the evolution rate of technical, economic and environmental criteria of a new technology (low TRL) through a specific database of reference. The construction of the database relies on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), used as a management tool to provide reliable results, despite the low TRL level.To integrate this approach into R&D organizations in a sustainable way, the method developed was implemented in a software "ECO PV" dedicated to crystalline silicon PV systems, which represent more than 94% of the current PV market today. Based on the principle of democratization of environmental knowledge and capitalization of information, this tool is accessible not only to LCA experts but also to all engineers in the PV field.Finally, this research work enabled to generate reliable, simple and quantified results and to develop an eco-design methodology to guide the technological choices of projects in the upstream phases of R&D, in order to develop PV systems more environmentally friendly.

Scientific studies on the advantages of environmental management and futures research integration have been increasingly published during the last years. WEMAG, a traditional German energy provider, aims to benefit from the energy market transition by offering innovative and sustainable energy solutions. However, the whole industry lacks experience with innovation management and beyond that also lacks knowledge on how to integrate eco-design and strategic foresight. Currently, theoretical contributions do not provide practice-relevant and interdisciplinary solutions due to a research gap on integrative perspectives of innovation, environmental and futures research streams and applied research approaches. This thesis is a first attempt to bridge the research gap and to provide a practice-relevant concept by introducing an integrative innovation process model, which benefits from eco-design and strategic foresight. Following an applied design theory methodology, requirements for the new process model-building are derived from literature review and qualitative insights from company material scanning, interviews and a workshop. The results show that integrating eco-design and strategic foresight into innovation management on a strategy and process level offers major advantages for managerial practice, especially in uncertain environments. It provides the opportunity to explore future developments while having normative guidance towards environmentally-friendly solutions, which also provide unique advantages for market positioning and succesful competition.

The concept of the circular economy has been introduced to China and encouraged to be implemented in manufacturing industries by the government in recent years. The implementation of a circular economy in the mobile phone product system can potentially serve as a solution to reducing a significant amount of waste mobile phones. However, the development of a circular economy in China is still at the beginning phase. To help with the promotion of a circular economy, this thesis was proposed. The aim is to explore the possibility to promote a circular economy in the mobile phone product system in China and the main target group is mobile phone producers. The main methodology of this thesis was system dynamics modeling. A system dynamic model was developed to analyze the potential sustainability profits and economic profits. A questionnaire and a literature review were conducted to collect relevant data for the model. The study proposed three strategies (old-for-new, eco-design, and product service system) for producers to promote a circular economy. The profitability of the three scenarios was evaluated and then a sensitivity analysis of the parameters in the model was conducted. According to the model results, the old-for-new strategy was the most profitable and the strategy of the product- service system could not bring additional profit to producers if only economic profits were considered. The general suggestion for producers on maximizing the profitability was propagandizing the significance of mobile phone collection and recycling to increase consumers’ awareness.

Packaging is a fundamental part of the life cycle of products and today´s life. Its purpose is to protect and maintain the function of the goods during different stages of the life cycle. Hence, the packaging needs to fulfil the functional demands to contribute to a sustainable life cycle of the specific product (Muthu, 2016). Circular Economy (CE) is a methodology which aims to decouple the economic growth and the consumption of finite resources (Hughes, 2017). The idea is to close product and material flow through reuse, repair or recycling methods. The possibilities for circularity is mainly created in the product development and design phase (European-Commission, 2017). The thesis aim is to assess the potential environmental impact of an existing packaging product and investigate how a circular business model affects the environmental performance. The objectives to answer the aim was to map the wooden material flows of the packaging product and to assess the potential environmental impacts throughout the Lifecycle of a wooden pallet, i.e. the NONS pallet. The results pointed out that the pallet stands for the largest share of packaging products at the pallet production site at Jularbo. However, it only constitutes for under 1 % of the total outtake of logs (volume) in the supply chain of AB Karl Hedin. The MFA also displayed that the supply chain is utilising the bio-material in the best possible way with little or no possible improvements. Instead, the circularity possibilities were within the distribution phase of the lifecycle. The Cumulative Energy Demand of the NONS pallet was 376.4 MJ, with the main contribution from the production of the NONS pallet, including the supply chain. The outcome of the characterised results was that the production including the supply chain and the disposal stage contributed the most in all categories except for one, terrestrial ecotoxicity. The results of the EcoDesign improvements according to CE, show a reduction in 11 of the ReCiPe categories. For example, the global warming was reduced by 58 %. The CED was decreased in all categories, renewable and non-renewable. However, the EcoDesign improvements lead to an increase in five ReCiPe categories. The increase is related to the additional distance because of reverse logistics. Following recommendations are made based on the results. An implementation of a circular business model is recommended. The model is in line with the recommendations from the European Union and has the potential to decrease environmental impacts throughout the lifecycle. The implementation will require changes in the design of the NONS pallet and collaboration between stakeholders in the value chain to assess the trade-offs between impact categories. The plastic sheet has a high contribution to environmental impact categories and is recommended to be redesign in collaboration with stakeholders within the value chain. Temporarily, the plastic sheet should be placed on top of the pallet to improve the possibilities for reuse and recycling. The combination of a quantitative tool (LCA) and the qualitative (EcoDesign) provides valuable information on how the potential environmental impacts are affected when implementing a more circular business model. Although, there is difficultness of implementing the tools on an existing design and system. The tools should be implemented early in the product development phase to increase the CE options. The action towards circularity should be a proactive measure to ensure competitive advantages for the future. / Förpackningar är en fundamental del av det globala samhället. Förpackningens uppgift är att skydda och bibehålla innehållet under dess livscykel. För att det ska vara möjligt så krävs det resurser i form av energi och material. Cirkulär ekonomi är en metod för att frånkoppla den ekonomiska tillväxten med resursutnyttjande genom att stänga materialflöden. Det kan göras genom återanvändning, lagning, samt återvinning. Tidigare forskning har visat att det krävs metoder i produktutvecklingsfasen för att kunna nå målen inom cirkulär ekonomi. Syftet är att undersöka miljöpåverkan för en befintlig förpackningsprodukt ur ett holistiskt perspektiv för att sedan utvärdera och undersöka hur en cirkulär affärsmodell för produkten påverkar miljön. För att nå målsättningen utformades delmål utifrån en specialutformad träpall, en förpackningsprodukt av AB Karl Hedin. Sedan genomfördes en materialflödesanalys på användningen av träprodukter hos leverantörskedjan, samt en livscykelanalys och EcoDesign analys på den specifika träpallen. Resultaten visar att produktionen av NONS pallen står för den största andelen (volym) i produktionsanläggningen i Jularbo (produkttyp). Men användningen av sågat virke i produkten utgör under 1 % av det totala volymuttaget per år. Materialflödesanalysen visade även att leverantörskedjan utnyttjar de olika delarna från trädet på bästa möjliga vis. Istället fanns det större potential för att återcirkulera material i distributionfasen samt i slutskedet för träpallen. Resultatet av livscykelanalysen visar att produktionen av NONS pallen (inklusive leverantörer) har störst miljöpåverkan sett ur ett holistiskt perspektiv. Resultatet av EcoDesign förbättringarna, baserade på cirkulär ekonomi, visar en minskning inom 11 av 17 ReCiPe kategorierna. Den globala uppvärmningen (CO2 eq) minskade med 58 %. Det kumulativa energibehovet minskade inom alla kategorier, förnybara samt icke-förnybara. Resultatet visar även att miljöpåverkan ökade inom 5 kategorier vilket kan härledas till det ökade logistikbehovet för cirkulära flöden. Rekommendationerna utifrån resultatet är följande, Implementera en cirkulär affärsmodell vilket är i linje med rekommendationer från EU och den har potential att minska den totala miljöpåverkan. Det kommer krävas ombearbetning av pallens design samt ett ökat samarbete i AB Karl Hedins värdekedja. Plastskyddet har en hög bidragande faktor till miljöpåverkan för NONS pallens livscykel. Därför rekommenderas att ett samarbete mellan olika parter etableras för att omarbeta designen för just plastskyddet. Tillsvidare bör plasten placeras ovanpå pallen för att underlätta återvinning av plasten sam återanvändning av pallen i den cirkulära affärsmodellen. Slutligen, kombinationen av ett kvantitativt verktyg (LCA) tillsammans med ett kvalitativt (EcoDesign) ger goda möjligheter för att utvärdera affärsmodeller mot cirkulär ekonomi. Den cirkulära affärsmodellen har potential att minska den totala miljöpåverkan. Men det kan vara problematiskt och kostsamt att genomföra en cirkulär ekonomi affärsplan på linjära affärsmodeller. Därför ska metoderna implementeras i ett tidigt skede i produktutvecklingsfasen för att uppnå bäst effekt. Implementeringen av cirkulär ekonomi bör ses som ett proaktivt beslut för att vara konkurrenskraftig i framtiden.

Our understanding of the effects that human production and consumption has on our planet and its resources has challenged us to think differently when developing new products. In response to these problems, Eco Design has been developed over the last few decades. Eco Design is a process integrated into product and engineering design that aims to lower the environmental impact of products across their life cycle, whilst not hindering design brief criteria such as function, price, performance, and quality. Research in Eco Design has focused mainly on the development of new tools and ways to implement Eco Design in industry. However, there is still little empirical knowledge today regarding the state of Eco Design implementation and practices in industry; in addition to the prerequisite needs and factors to successfully implement Eco Design. The aim of this research has been to review the level and type of Eco Design in the British Product Design industry and to identify recurrent themes helping or hindering implementation. This was achieved through the use of a pilot study followed by a two stage case study design, involving 20 cases and 57 participants across 65 interviews. The investigation and its analysis produced 12 confirmed themes, each generating their own drivers and barriers to Eco Design implementation. This research into Eco Design implementation provides a unique contribution and a timely insight into the Eco Design practices of the British Product Design industry today. The research also provides the novel contribution of identifying the drivers and barriers to implementing and sustaining Eco Design, as well as an understanding of the strengths and shortfalls of the current Eco Design processes and tools. These contributions to knowledge in the field of Eco Design will help future research formulate better solutions to implement Eco Design processes in the Product Design industry.

The main aim of this thesis is to develop and test industry-specific, applied work procedures and tools for environmental and emerging sustainability work in the graphic arts industry. This includes methods to quantify, follow-up, evaluate, manage, improve and communicate the environmental performance of activities in the graphic arts supply chain and printed products. In order to achieve the aims of the thesis, a selection of work areas were chosen as the basis for developing the industry-specific work procedures and tools. The selected work areas are the following: environmental management (being a part of sustainability management), environmental and sustainability strategies, environmental indicators and design for environment (DfE). The research presented in this thesis was based on survey research methods, case studies and multi-company studies. Within the framework of these methods, quantitative and qualitative techniques for data gathering were used. The companies included in the studies were selected according to their willingness, interest and motivation to participate and develop their environmental or sustainability work. The most significant results of the research presented in this thesis regarding the selected work areas are the following: • An evaluation of early certified environmental management systems (EMSs) in Sweden identified four areas as priorities in making the EMSs more efficient. Two of them, viz. improvement in the follow-up of environmental work, and the linking of EMSs to product design, were developed for the graphic arts industry. The remaining two areas were clarifying the identification process and assessment of environmental aspects, and streamlining and co-ordinating different management systems. • An established and successfully tested working method for formulating and realising corporate sustainability strategies in the graphic arts industry. • Industry-specific environmental indicator models for the graphic arts industry with defined methods for standardised inventorying and calculations. These models have been tested, used and approved of by the industry itself. • Collected and compiled data for the developed environmental indicator models. Data have been collected from quite a large number of companies (10-20 companies for each of the printing techniques covered, i.e. coldset offset, heatset offset and gravure) over a period of several years. • The use of the industry-specific environmental indicator models was developed and illustrated. • A described and recommended work procedure for DfE in graphic arts companies including industry-specific tools for applying DfE to printed products, in the form of a manual and a checklist. The checklist was designed so that it can serve as a simple tool for the environmental assessment of printed products. The tools were tested by graphic arts companies. / <p>QC 20110124</p>

Aujourd’hui, il existe très peu de nouveaux produits écoconçus (NPE) mis sur le marché par les PME du Québec et les réussites commerciales sont encore plus rares. Dans ce contexte, il semble pertinent de se pencher sur la manière dont le processus d’écoconception pourrait être à la fois mieux et plus utilisé dans les PME québécoises en étudiant spécifiquement la réception des NPE auprès des détaillants pendant la commercialisation. La question à laquelle se propose de répondre ce mémoire est la suivante : comment un produit conçu selon une approche cycle de vie est-il reçu par le réseau de détaillants d’une PME? Aussi, cette recherche explore le rôle du designer, qui normalement s’achève au début de la commercialisation, que pourrait jouer durant cette phase afin de favoriser la réception positive d’un NPE. Cette recherche s’appuie sur une étude de cas de la première phase de commercialisation d’un meuble de salle de bain écoconçu par une PME manufacturière québécoise en 2010 et 2011. La chercheuse a observé la réception d’un NPE, c’est-à-dire la perception et l’appréciation de celui-ci, par des personnes œuvrant dans une PME de fabrication d’ameublement de salle de bain et par ceux qui agissent dans son réseau de distribution. Nous avons relevé que la compréhension des notions liées à l’écoconception est un enjeu important dans la réception d’un NPE. C'est pourquoi la formation des détaillants et l’éducation des consommateurs deviennent essentielles pour la réception positive d’un NPE. Dans cette perspective, le designer pourrait intervenir durant la commercialisation. / There are still very few new eco-designed products (NEP) commercialized by SMEs and commercial successes are even more rare in Quebec. In this context, this study examines how the eco-design process could be integrated more easily with people working in SMEs in Quebec, specifically studying the retailer’s reception of NEP during the commercialization. Therefore, a major question from this dissertation in learning research is: how a product designed according to the life cycle approach is received by the SMEs’ network of retailers? Also, our research explores how the role of designer, which normally ends at the beginning of the commercialization, could evolve during this phase to help receive a NEP. This case study, examines the first phase of the commercialization of bathroom furniture eco-designed by a Quebec manufacturing SME in 2010 and 2011. The researcher observed the reception of a NEP, which in summary translates in the perception and appreciation of NEP. These observations were lead with people working in an SME manufacturing bathroom furniture and with people working in his network of retailers. It was observed that the understanding of the notion of eco-design is an important issue in the reception of a NEP. For this reason, the training of the retailers and the education of the consumers are an essential part for the positive reception of a NEP. Also, because of his/her knowledge of eco-design, the designer could become a major contributor during the phase of commercialization.