Colloquia

Samenvatting

The transition toward sustainable packaging is often framed as a matter of material innovation, yet new materials rarely reach widespread adoption. An example can be found in Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs): a promising family of bio-based and biodegradable plastics with strong technical potential but limited real-world integration. Despite decades of development, PHA remains expensive, difficult to scale, and poorly aligned with existing packaging infrastructures. These challenges extend beyond the material itself, as they reflect broader systemic issues that also affect other bio-based plastics.

This thesis investigates why PHA struggles to integrate into the European packaging value chain and what role design can play in addressing this problem. Through a combination of literature analysis, stakeholder input, and an exploration of socio-technical transition theory, the research maps the interconnected barriers that reinforce PHA’s stagnation. These include unstable processing behaviour, uncertain end-of-life performance, fragmented decision-making among stakeholders, and an ambiguous regulatory landscape. Together, these dynamics create a system-level lock-in that prevents PHA from competing with incumbent materials.

To explore how change may still be initiated, the thesis draws on four major transition frameworks and consolidates them into a perspective that distinguishes between system conditions (drivers) and actor-based strategies (navigation). Building on this, a design-led intervention is developed - not as a prescriptive tool, but as a structured framework that identifies where actors can meaningfully influence system dynamics. The intervention outlines four areas in which coordinated action can open up movement within the locked-in system: strengthening system understanding, building cross-chain alliances, supporting technological learning, and establishing governance continuity.

Although PHA serves as the case study, the patterns uncovered in this research apply broadly to the integration of other bio-based plastics. The work highlights that successful material transitions require more than technological readiness - they rely on the collective ability of actors to navigate complex systems and reshape the conditions under which new materials can succeed.