Quantifying environmental impacts and user experience in sustainable food packaging design

Abstract

Abstract Sustainable food packaging design increasingly requires simultaneous consideration of environmental performance, food-protection function, and user experience, yet these dimensions are often quantified in separate literatures. This semi-systematic critical review synthesizes studies that assess environmental impacts through life cycle assessment (LCA) and studies that measure user experience (UX) through consumer, ergonomic, sensory, and behavioral evidence. The review is differentiated from conventional packaging-LCA reviews by focusing on the interfaces where LCIA method choice, system-boundary definition, food-waste modeling, disposal behavior, and usability evidence alter design conclusions. It first compares dominant LCIA frameworks, including CML, TRACI, ReCiPe, PEF, and related midpoint/endpoint approaches, showing why category-level transparency is essential for conventional, bio-based, compostable, and reusable packaging systems. It then maps UX dimensions such as opening convenience, safety perception, label comprehension, emptiability, aesthetics, and disposal accuracy to measurable methods, including force and torque testing, instrumental material characterization, sensory analysis, surveys, and observed behavior. Across the literature, environmental burden reduction often conflicts with consumer expectations: higher material intensity can reduce total system impacts when avoided food loss is included, while positive perceptions of biodegradable or compostable packaging can be offset by mis-sorting and infrastructure mismatch. The synthesis therefore argues for transparent, context-specific decision frameworks that connect LCA outputs, UX metrics, food waste evidence, and multi-criteria decision analysis rather than treating sustainability as a material label alone.