Ecodesign : a promising approach to sustainable production and consumption

This manual provides companies with a step-by-step approach to ecodesign. During product development, many opportunities exist to integrate environmental considerations into the design process. This manual addresses the issues of product development and offers a methodology to companies which want to make a start on ecodesign. The modular structure of the manual allows a company to gain experience in the field of ecodesign, and then to tailor the initial step-by-step approach to produce an ecodesign programme suited to its own situation and needs. In this way the company can internalize ecodesign in its product development function, and improve its own existing products. The manual gives examples of companies which have already made progress with ecodesign, demonstrating that there is a successful and repeatable methodology which can be used all over the globe, once adapted to regional circumstances.