A comparative examination of sustainable product design approaches through representative products

Sustainable product design is a holistic product development approach that considers environmental, economic, and social impacts across the product life cycle. Within this broader framework, the present study focuses on environmental design decisions at the product level and examines how different approaches to sustainable product design are reflected in representative products through a common set of sustainable design criteria. Accordingly, Green Design, Design for X (DfX), Eco-design, Cradle to Cradle (C2C), and Life Cycle Design are examined, with a current product selected to represent each approach. A comparative qualitative product analysis was adopted as the research method. The selected products were examined according to ten sustainable design criteria: material selection, production and resource efficiency, durability and product lifespan, repairability, disassemblability, modularity, reuse, recyclability, end-of-life strategy, and life cycle integration. Through this comparative framework, the study evaluates which design decisions are prioritized by different sustainable design approaches at the product level and how these priorities are reflected in product characteristics. The findings indicate that the examined products address sustainable design criteria through different priorities and design decisions. While material selection and resource efficiency constitute key design considerations in some products, repairability, disassemblability, and modularity emerge through product structure and component relationships in others. Recyclability, end-of-life strategies, and life cycle integration are also significant in maintaining value at the end of use and supporting continuous material cycles. The comparative analysis demonstrates that a product’s strong representation of a particular sustainable design approach does not necessarily mean that all sustainable design criteria are met to the same extent. In this context, sustainable product design should be understood not solely through specific environmental criteria, but as a design problem that requires an integrated life cycle perspective encompassing the relationships among material selection, production processes, product structure and component relationships, product lifespan, and end-of-life scenarios.