Material development for user acceptance: a design-led exploration of cellulose-based materials for sustainable FMCG packaging

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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
Location:
P1 OPINNÄYTTEET D 2019 Jannuzzi Fonseca
Date
2019
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
126 +27
Series
Abstract
Plastic pollution is a major global problem and single-use plastic packaging is among the main contributors to this situation. Over the past few decades, the large amounts of plastic packaging waste combined with deficient waste management systems have turned plastic packaging into a serious environmental issue. To tackle this problem, different lines of action have been implemented: the most common being improving material efficiency and recyclability, encouraging reuse and investing in biodegradable materials. Yet, for any of these changes to make a real difference in the overall environmental impact of FMCG packaging, end-consumers play a key role. Besides being sustainable, packaging materials have to be attractive to consumers in order to be adopted by different products and brands. Therefore, it is important to understand the elements in packaging which give consumers clues to their environmental impact, as well as to the packaging’s perceived benefits. This thesis applied a modified version of the Material Driven Design (MDD) method as a framework to conduct a design-led exploratory process with the objective of developing a sustainable alternative material for FMCG plastic packaging. This approach started with desk research, practical material development and focus groups to study the existing packaging materials in the market, the cellulose-based materials strengths and users’ perception of the packaging material developed for this study. To account for regional differences, this study investigated users expectations in Finland and Brazil. Consecutively, the collected data was analyzed and interpreted to identify the material’s intangible qualities, such as meanings and values; which were then used to define guidelines for the development of final prototypes embodying the knowledge gathered through this study. Experimenting with the material and incorporating users’ perspectives into the early stages of material development enabled the final prototypes to highlight the material’s characteristics that best fulfil users’ expectations of packaging performance, appeal to their values and adjust to their cultural context. Such characteristics were defined to improve user acceptance of the material, communicate sustainability in an efficient and appealing way and consequently contribute to the material’s market success and its impact on addressing the issue of plastic pollution.
Description
Supervisor
Jallas, Mikko
Thesis advisor
Paltakari, Jouni
Murto, Pekka
Keywords
bio-based materials, biodegradable packaging material, FMCG packaging, sustainability, sustainable design, material driven design, user perception, cellulose-based materials
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