Tools for sustainable product development

38 Principles for Sustainable Product Design

Do you want to make your products more sustainable but are unsure where to start?
Milani’s 38 Principles for Sustainable Product Design are a practical ecodesign framework that helps companies integrate environmental, social, and circular economy considerations into product development.

Based on Milani’s extensive experience in industrial design and circular economy projects, the framework translates complex sustainability requirements into clear design perspectives that support better product decisions.

Download the poster with all principles

Use it as a practical reference for your product development teams.

Download the 38 Principles for Sustainable Product Design

A practical framework for sustainable product development

Product development is changing rapidly as sustainability requirements become more concrete. Regulations such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) introduce binding requirements for repairability, reusability, recyclability, resource efficiency, and digital product information. These aspects must increasingly be considered early in product architecture and specification and apply to most products placed on the European market.

At the same time, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) sets new requirements for packaging concepts, including recyclability, recycled content, material reduction, and labeling.

For many organizations, the challenge is not recognizing the importance of sustainability, but translating regulatory and strategic requirements into practical development decisions.

Milani’s 38 Principles for Sustainable Product Design provide a clear orientation for this challenge. ecological, social, and circular requirements into clear design perspectives that can be integrated into everyday development processes.

Whether companies are redesigning existing products, developing a new product generation, or exploring circular service models, the principles help teams identify relevant opportunities and structure discussions around sustainable product innovation.

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What are sustainable product design principles?

Sustainable product design principles help product teams integrate environmental and social considerations into design decisions, from how products are designed and used to how they're maintained and recovered.

Milani's 38 principles span four levels:

Material level: efficiency, recycled materials, recyclability
Product level:modularity, repairability, intuitive use, longevity
Product-service level: multipurpose use, sharing models, take-back systems
Social-systemic level: questioning the design premise, responsible partnerships

Shared foundations for sustainable product decisions

Milani’s 38 Principles for Sustainable Product Design provide a common starting point for teams involved in product development. They highlight opportunities for sustainable innovation, from material selection and repairability to circular strategies and end-of-life scenarios.

Rather than functioning as a rigid methodology, the principles serve as a practical orientation framework. They help teams identify relevant questions early and create a shared understanding across product management, R&D, engineering, procurement, and marketing, which is essential for defining a clear path toward more sustainable products.

In practice, Milani uses the principles in co-creation sessions and consulting projects to identify strategic questions, generate fresh solution approaches, and create long-term sustainable product strategies.

With our long-standing expertise in ecodesign and the circular economy, we help companies implement product sustainability in a pragmatic, technically feasible, and economically viable way.

Get the full framework as a free poster

A visual framework to help product teams integrate sustainability into product development.

Download poster – free of charge

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From theory to practice

Co-Creation workshops that bring clarity

We help product teams translate sustainability ambitions into clear product strategies and development decisions.

Contact us to explore how we can support your path toward sustainable product innovation.

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Examples from the 38 Sustainable Product Design Principles

The 38 principles address different aspects of sustainable product development, from repairability and modular product architecture to material selection and material efficiency. The following articles explore selected principles in more detail and show how companies apply them in practice.

Nando Schmidlin
Circular Design Strategy
welcome@milani.ch
+41 44 914 74 74