The Impact of Changing Legal and Environmental Requirements on Product Design

Design is increasingly shaped not only by what users want, but by legal requirements relating to waste, inaccessibility, product lifespans, energy use, and disposal.

Examples of changing legal and environmental requirements include:

• Single-use plastic restrictions: The New Zealand government recently banned single-use plastic shopping bags, and later banned single-use plastic produce bags, plates, bowls and cutlery. Consequently, reusable fabric bags, paper bags, and alternative takeaway packaging have become much more normalised.
• Right to repair regulations: The European Commission has introduced rules to make it easier for consumers to repair goods rather than replace them. Consequently, products such as appliances and electronics need to be easier to open and fix, using screws instead of glue, and replaceable parts.
• Replaceable battery requirements: The EU now requires many portable batteries in products to be removable and replaceable by consumers. Consequently, designers of phones, tablets, headphones, toys, speakers and other electronic products may need to design battery compartments, accessible internal layouts and safer replacement systems.
• Packaging recyclability rules: The EU is also moving toward all packaging being recyclable by 2030. Consequently, designers are encouraged to avoid mixed materials, unnecessary plastic windows, foil layers, excessive packaging, hard-to-remove labels etc.
• End-of-life requirements: New Zealand Ministry for the Environment has identified key products that need better end-of-life systems, such as plastic packaging, tyres, e-waste, agrichemicals and containers. Consequently, designers need to think about how products will be collected, reused, repaired, recycled or safely disposed of after use.
• Healthy homes standards: New Zealand rental homes must now meet minimum standards for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture, drainage and draught stopping. Consequently, housing design now needs to focus more on warmth, dryness, airflow, mould prevention and occupant health, not just appearance and layout.
• Building energy-efficiency requirements: New Zealand’s Building Code includes requirements relating to thermal performance and insulation. Consequently, building designers need to consider insulation, glazing, orientation, shading, heat loss, hot water systems and how much energy a building will use over time.
• Digital accessibility standards: New Zealand government websites must meet accessibility and usability standards from March 2025. Consequently, digital designers need to ensure websites, forms, apps and online documents can be used by people with disabilities, including people using screen readers and colour blind users.