Integrating sustainable waste management into product design: sustainability as a functional requirement

Municipal waste management is, by definition, spatially organized. In the United Kingdom the national government designates waste collection and disposal responsibilities to the various scales of local government. However, whilst the highest aim of waste management is prevention, achieving this is beyond the scope of local authorities, which deal with the waste stream presented to them as an independent variable. Alternatively, product design offers a potential point of policy intervention, by which the waste stream becomes a dependent variable. This paper innovatively argues that, for eco‐design to be effective, sustainable waste management must be established as a functional requirement in the design process.