ABSTRACT
With the growing understanding that environmental impacts arise from the choice of materials in a product and its use and disposal, attention began to turn to the design of greener products. This chapter focuses on information obtained in a study of 16 British, American and Australian firms that had developed and marketed 'greener' products which have a reduced impact on the environment arising from their materials, production, use or disposal. The chapter also focuses on a particular product development project which involved such a shift from green design to eco-design: the development by the United Kingdom-based Hoover European Appliance Group of its 'New Wave' range of washing machines. The environmental objectives added some difficult design problems, the solution of which was aided by the establishment of a closely knit product development team. The adoption of such radical eco-design approaches depends on market acceptability, legislative change, and perhaps on the introduction of new patterns of production and ownership, such as leasing.
