Colloquia

Summary

This master thesis assignment was carried out in collaboration with the company Henkel AG & Co. KgaA. The multinational business is active in the chemical and consumer goods industries, providing people with home and personal care products. Henkel has taken on the goal to design 100% of their packaging for recycling or reuse. In that sense, this master thesis explores the topic of a deposit bottle return system for Henkel's liquid home and personal care products from a technical, design and consumer point of view.  

Conducted research includes the latest reuse legislation from the European Commission, reuse standards and models. An analysis of Henkel's reuse portfolio in Europe is done which provides an understanding of the environmental impact, financial viability and consumer acceptance of Henkel’s reuse products. The concept of a home and personal care bottle return system is explored further by analysing the parameters (packaging design, transport distances, etc.) that play a role in the successful development of such a system. For this, the role of each stakeholder and LCAs of the beverage industry are analysed and tests are conducted with cleaning machines used in the beverage industry. 

The findings are summarized in an interactive handbook on return system guidelines for Henkel employees. Using the handbook, a design case study is performed to develop a standardized, returnable bottle design for Henkel and a consumer study is organized to partially evaluate the design and to see if a home and personal care return system meets the interest of consumers.