‘What is a beautiful house without a good planet to build on?’ Henry David Thoreau.

‘Humankind does not have a pollution problem; it has a design problem. If people could design products, appliances, furniture, houses, factories and cities more intelligently from the start, they wouldn’t even have to think in terms of waste, pollution or scarcity. Good design would allow for abundance, endless reuse and pleasure.’ Michael Braungart and William McDonough.

Sustainable design, also known as green design or eco-design, is a design approach that aims to create products, buildings or systems that are environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically viable.

Sustainable design takes into account the environmental impact of each stage of a product’s life cycle, from raw material extraction to manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal. It aims to minimize resource consumption, reduce waste and encourage the use of renewable materials and energy efficient technologies. Sustainable design also takes into account social and economic factors such as the well-being of employees, local communities and the overall cost-effectiveness of the design. The ultimate goal of sustainable design is to create a more sustainable and resilient world for current and future generations.

As part of the Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission announced the Sustainable Product Initiative on March 30, 2022 to combat climate change and make sustainability the norm across the EU.

Within the scope of the initiative, all products in the EU market are aimed to be more environmentally friendly, circular and energy efficient from the design stage to the consumption and waste stage, and the Eco-Design for Sustainable Products Regulation, which establishes the general framework of common rules across the EU for environmental sustainability, was published in the EU Official Journal dated June 28, 2024 and entered into force. The Regulation aims to extend the Eco-Design legislation, which currently only applies to energy-based products (white goods, information technologies and engineering products), to all products except food, feed and medical products and to include detailed rules on sustainability on a product basis.

In this way, the EU aims to unify the rules that have already been set by member states for certain product groups. Within the framework of the “sustainability rules” set by the EU:

• Increased durability, reuse and repairability of products,
• Restricting the use of harmful chemicals,
• Ensuring energy efficiency,
• Ensuring resource efficiency,
• Increasing recycled content in products,
• Re-manufacturing, ensuring high quality and recycling rates,
• Reducing carbon and environmental footprint,
• It is aimed to reduce waste generation, including packaging waste.

In this direction, it is envisaged that the European Commission will set product-based eco-design rules in the period 2024-2027 for iron and steel, aluminum, textile products, especially garments and footwear, furniture (including bedding), tires, detergents, paints, mineral oils, chemicals, information technology devices and energy-intensive products. The Commission is expected to grant an 18-month transition period for compliance with the product-based rules to be issued by delegated legislation.

A Digital Product Passport will be issued for each product subject to eco-design legislation. The digital product passport will be determined on a product basis, based on different criteria for each product, without prejudice to intellectual property rights, through open dialogue with international partners, standardization authorities, industry associations, consumer organizations and NGOs.

With the Digital Product Passport:

• Availability of all information about the product at every stage of the value chain,
• Tracking the stage of the product in the value chain,
• Enabling consumers to make the right choices by accessing information about the product,
• It is aimed to ensure that those concerned in the repair and recycling phase follow the correct methods by accessing the necessary information about the product content.

Information on the product and its life cycle (LC) will be accessible through methods such as QR codes on or accompanying the product.

Based on life cycle assessment (LCA), the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method provides guidelines for measuring and communicating the environmental impact of products, including goods and services. Based on global standards (e.g. ISO 14040/44) and other relevant approaches, PEF focuses on reducing the environmental impact of products throughout the supply chain, from raw material sourcing to waste management. It allows modeling of material flows, emissions and waste streams, and a comprehensive understanding and management of environmental impacts.

The concepts that will be frequently encountered in the coming days have been tried to be explained in this article. Detailed reviews will be published from our corporate sources in the coming days.