Opportunities for Sustainable Packaging Design: Learning from Pregnancy as a Metaphor

Current packaging use within fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) produces a lot of unwanted waste that must be dealt with at significant cost, with negative environmental impacts. In the UK, annually, 10.8 million tonnes of packaging wastes are created; only 24% of plastic packaging is currently recycled (defra, 2011). Many packaging designers approach sustainable issues by various methods, however, this effort only reduces damage to the environment because the packaging still produces a lot of waste in a short period with less valued object, which has a negative impact on the environment. Some FMCG packaging, e.g. Method’s refillable bottles or Unilever’s detergent tablets (Unilever, 2000), is designed to promote more sustainable behaviour. However, consumers’ perceptions, behaviour and habits have been attributed (Porter, 1999) to decreases in packaging value, driving less careful behaviour.

The emerging field of design for sustainable behaviour (Lockton et al 2008; Wever et al 2008 ) can be applied to packaging (Wever et al, 2009). However, further knowledge is needed, as designers’ intended functions may not match consumers’ perceptions and behaviour. Fundamental interconnections need to be articulated, taking a whole system view (Wright and Meadows, 2009). One innovation approach in packaging design involves learning from other disciplines. This paper suggests translating ideas from human biology –pregnancy practicethrough metaphor to take a holistic view of the packaging life cycle.