The relative influence of sustainable product design strategies for polymer products

There is a general, vernacular perception that polymers are not sustainable materials, and therefore could not be used in a product that is designed to be sustainable. Qualitative strategies, including the use of natural materials, have been long been defined to guide more environmentally friendly product development. Quantitative life cycle assessment tools indicate that there are cases in which polymers, which may not be considered natural, can be less ecologically impactful materials to use in a product. Whether qualitative or quantitative product development tools are used, if the choices made by new product creators are not consistent with the perceptions of a product’s customers, they may not influence the purchase of a more sustainable product over a less sustainable product. The objective of this study is to assess how people perceive the sustainabilities of polymer products. A set of ten, nearly identical, injection-molded drinking cups was given to research subjects for a Kansei engineering analysis regarding their perceptions of the products’ sustainabilities. Participants evaluated the cups on ten qualitative design strategies for sustainability, including durability, preciousness, recyclability and toxicity. Results show that perceptions of four of the ten attributes: durability, degradability, rawness and naturalness, most strongly influence the overall perception of the product’s sustainability. Four other attributes: expense, luxuriousness, preciousness and rareness influence the product’s overall perception of worth, which is conversely connected to a product’s perception of sustainability. The attributes of polymer products that people recognize as affecting sustainability can be used by product developers, as well as chemists and material engineers, to develop and specify more appropriate and accepted sustainable products and polymers.