THEORETICAL STUDY FOR REDESIGN OF AN AGRICULTURAL PACKAGE APPLYING ECODESIGN STRATEGIES AND CAD/CAE TOOLS

Abstract

Plastic waste derived from the packaging industry currently represents an important environmental problem. Therefore, it is necessary for product designers and engineers to become aware of this fact and seek to incorporate the environmental vector when designing, redesigning, and developing containers and packaging, so that they are more sustainable and eco-effectiveness. Starting from this premise, the following objectives have been proposed in this work: (1) study and identification of possible Ecodesign strategies to apply to an existing agricultural package (model used in the collection and distribution of fruit and vegetable products); (2) to propose a redesign of the package studied, applying the information and knowledge obtained previously; (3) comparative analysis between the existing (commercial) package and the redesign proposal developed. In order to respond to this approach, work has been carried out with CAD/CAE tools (SolidWorks 3D CADTM software). The results obtained from the case study developed in this work indicate that the application of CAD/CAE tools supported by the proposed Ecodesign strategies can be a very useful and effective instrument in the design and development of this type of packaging, for practical application in the agro-food and packaging industry, which can facilitate in the short to medium term the transition to a circular economy model, based on the "Cradle to Cradle" concept.