Aspects of sustainability and design engineering for the production of interconnected smart food packaging

Abstract

In the present work, the problem of food wastage and the concept of sustainability are studied. An analysis of Life Cycle Assessment as a tool and of the innovative concept of Cradle to Cradle is also carried out, together with an exhaustive comparison of these two approaches. Based on these concepts, an integrated methodology is proposed for the design of interconnected smart products. The smart packaging systems currently available are studied theoretically and a practical case is analysed using the proposed methodology through the design and Life Cycle Assessment of a smart interconnected container that is able to detect the ethylene emitted by climacteric fruit, thereby minimizing food wastage. For the case under study, a major impact is observed of the selected plastics in the resources category, and of the smart system in the human health category.