It is widely acknowledged that environmental impacts from packaging waste depend on how consumers sort this waste fraction. In this research, “design for sustainable behavior” (DfSB) strategies are used to improve a cream packaging design that can support proper sorting of packaging waste as a sustainable behavior. The application of three DfSB strategies—“match”, “steer”, and “force”—was examined through circular interviews and practical experience with two groups of participants in Karlskrona, Sweden. Prototyping was used to provide a more realistic experiment and enhance communication during the interviews. The results show that consumer-packaging interaction during the usage phase is important to enhance proper sorting behavior. The results also show the potential of a user-centered design-based approach to study consumer-packaging interaction and to understand the challenges faced by users when sorting packaging waste. It also shows the possibility of packaging design to script consumer behavior and reveals details that are important when designing packaging that was not known. In this vein, packaging form, color, and haptic attributes are the most influential design attributes that can support packaging functionalities and script consumer sorting behavior.

This research aims to understand why consumers miss-sort plastic food packaging and to what extent the design affordance of packaging can influence consumer sorting behavior. A photo-based observation study and semi-structured interviews were used to gain a deeper understanding of the miss-sorting behavior and how it could be affected by design affordance. This explorative study suggested that the packaging form, size, durability, haptic aspects, and visual communicative properties influence how consumers perceive the value of packaging. This is important, because packaging with low attributed values are not considered worth recycling or correctly sorted and are more likely to be miss-sorted. Hence, a well-afforded food packaging design is expected to improve how consumers perceive the value of packaging and to consequently improve sorting behavior.

Due to population growth, urbanization, higher income levels, and intensive use of packaging products, the amount of waste generated by households, including food packaging waste, has been increasing continuously worldwide, posing a massive threat to societies and the environment. Therefore, proper waste management has become a challenging environmental issue and priority for governments. Along with the advances in technical aspects, such as material recovery technologies, more pressure has been placed on the strategies to move from disposal to waste prevention and recycling. Considerable efforts are being made to limit the overall production and the negative impact of waste on the environment and human health, as well as minimize the cost of waste management. Separation of different waste fractions at the source (i.e., source separation) is an integral part of such efforts toward enhancing the homogeneity of collected waste and improving the quality of materials for recycling. Sorting waste as a regular activity can also serve as a practice for improving residents' sorting behavior. However, the benefits of source separation cannot be gained without actively participating in the sorting process, which depends on the perception of convenience and the easy-to-implement nature of the process. Therefore, the design of food packaging has become an interesting concept for research and has received a lot of attention as a means to influence the consumers' sorting behavior. This is because in some way, consumer behavior is shaped by products as much as products are shaped by consumer behavior. Considering the unique characteristics of food packaging, it is expected that different food packages tend to influence a consumer in different ways. Hence, applying proper design strategies requires an in-depth understanding of packaging-consumer interactions throughout the sorting process. However, the research in this field, except for a few, is too general and usually associated with the impractical experiences around packaging material and functions. Instead, a design-oriented approach should be considered, in addition to practical experience. This thesis, therefore, aims to unfold the packaging design potential to support sorting behavior. Furthermore, how is it possible to maintain and empower the user-packaging interaction by applying different design strategies? In this case, the potential of design approaches, namely the user-centered design (UCD), design for sustainable behavior (DfSB), and design affordance, have been discussed. Moreover, the advantages and opportunities of these methods to improve packaging design, thus influencing sorting behavior, are investigated using different research methodologies.

The global amount of waste generated by households, including food packaging waste, has been increasing continuously across the world, posing a massive threat to societies and the environment. Proper waste management, therefore, has become a challenging environmental issue and a priority for governments. Along with the technological advances, such as material recovery technologies, more stress has been placed on the strategies for moving away from disposal to waste prevention, separation, and recycling. Considerable efforts are being made to not only limit the overall production and the negative impact of waste on the environment and human health but also to minimize the cost of waste management. Separation of wastes at the source (i.e., source separation) is an integral part of such efforts toward enhancing the purity of collected waste and improving the quality of materials for recycling. Furthermore, sorting of waste as a habitual performance can serve as a practice for improving residents' recycling/sorting behavior. The packaging waste, including food packaging, forms a significant part of the municipal solid waste. The design of food packaging, therefore, has received a lot of attention as a useful tool to influence the consumers' sorting behavior, making it an interesting concept for research related to waste management. Presumably, the design of food packaging can meet consumers' sorting demands while being instructive and facilitating the sorting process, thus enhancing the recycling rate of the food packaging waste. Finding the ideal form of food packaging, however, requires an in-depth understanding of the packaging-consumer interactions throughout the sorting process. Considering the different characteristics of food packaging, it is expected that different food packages tend to influence a consumer in different ways. Nevertheless, the current knowledge is somewhat too general to be used by packaging developers to improve the sorting of the food packaging. Hence, the present thesis aims to provide a more in-depth insight into the influence of food packaging, as a product and service provider, on the consumer's/user's decision-making on sort of food packaging waste. The results assert that packaging to be sorted properly requires proper design to manifest its sorting related abilities such as easy to empty, easy to clean, and easy to fold, for the consumer. Selecting material, visual attributes, form, and function can amplify or reduce these sorting abilities of food packaging.

Food packaging waste is a valuable resource for material recovery, if it is properly separated and sorted by consumers. The packaging itself may have the potential to assist consumer sorting by, for example, communicating a correct sorting practice. This is partly due to the fact that the sorting of packaging waste, which is a habitual behavior of consumers, can be perceived as being confusing and inconvenient. Consumers can, therefore, choose not to sort. It is argued that material recovery could be enhanced if packaging can afford easy and proper sorting and separation. To investigate the potential of packaging to support proper sorting, six types of yogurt and cream packaging were examined across 15 households in Karlskrona (a medium-sized Swedish city). The aim is to investigate the effect of selected packaging attributes on consumer decisions regarding waste sorting. The results reveal that some of the selected packaging waste is not properly separated and sorted. It is concluded that the design of food packaging based on user-centered needs could affect consumer decisions for the proper sorting of packaging waste, which enables improved material recovery. The design should focus especially on the package’s visual attributes, the material selection, and the package´s waste sorting related functions

Household waste sorting at the source is an essential part of the waste management system in many countries. Correct sorting of this waste, including food packaging waste, is cost-effective, it facilitates the recycling process and enhances the quality of the recycled product. Although there is a growing body of research that studies the effect of different attributes of food packaging on household recycling behavior, the effect of these attributes on the sorting of the food packaging waste is not well known. This contribution reviews work that studies the relationship between attributes of food packaging and consumer sorting behavior. The review highlights the potential of the visual attributes and the quality of packaging as a communication channel for encouraging consumers to sort the food packaging waste. The efficiency of the waste management system and the quality of recycled products can hence be affected by the proper design of food packaging.