Sustainable redesign process of foldable plastic crate suitable to grape transport: a case study of design optimization end material reduction

The transport and logistics system of many fruit and vegetable products, is strongly linked to the production of crates, which mainly use virgin plastics or materials of cellulosic origin, such as wood and corrugated cardboard. Despite the availability on the market of reusable containers, in many countries, such as in Chile and the rest of South America, disposable types continue to be used. To aggravate the environmental burden, there is also the poor management of plastic waste in these territories. In fact, in the new report - drawn up by The World Bank Group - South America prefers landfills (68.5%), but the abandonment of materials on the street is also not uncommon (26.8%). However, signs of change are also taking place in these countries: legislation that restricts the use and distribution of single-use plastics is evolving in Latin America, but the path is still long and complicated. According to one of the latest studies conducted by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, "current efforts to eliminate plastic remain focused on replacing with other plastic or paper" but also redesigning single- use products and reducing their weight - often by reducing thickness. - represents a valid alternative for manufacturing companies, which do not intend to replace the starting material. The proposed paper intends to describe the process of research and environmental redesign of a disposable plastic tray, foldable and Collapsible, intended for the transport of grapes. The project, developed for the Chilean company "Wenco S.A." from the Spin-off of the University of Camerino EcodesignLab in collaboration with the Italian company “SCS Stampi”, had as a priority objective the reduction of the material used to produce packaging. The product is characterized by innovative technical-formal solutions capable of increasing resilience, drastically reducing the use of polypropylene, and improving its ergonomics for the stacking and transport of the individual boxes. In the first phase of the project, preliminary and benchmarking research was started, aimed at analyzing the technical characteristics of the boxes used for transporting grapes. Through the photographic survey of the product supplied by the company, its weighing and FEM structural analyzes, optimization strategies were identified to reduce the amount of polypropylene used. At the end of the analysis phase, a new proposal for a collapsible box was generated, developed according to the design criteria of the DfS and optimized to ensure optimal conservation of the grapes during all stages of transport. The redesign process has led to a reduction of polypropylene by 17%, up to 25% in the advanced version of the box. Considering the annual production of approximately 4 million pieces, the results obtained represent an important contribution in terms of reduction of resources and environmental impacts attributable to the production of virgin material. In conclusion, the paper presents a case study in line with the SDG 12 objective, which made it possible to obtain both a significant reduction in consumption and an increase in company know- how, in terms of the manufacturer's DfS.