Sustainable Packaging Design

Conny Bakker serves as Professor of Design Methodology for Sustainability and Circular Economy at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, where she combines research, teaching, and practical application to advance circular economy principles in product design. Her research portfolio focuses on developing innovative design methods for circular and sustainable product-service systems, particularly emphasizing products with multiple lifecycles through strategies including life-extension, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. As coordinator of several courses in Sustainable Design and Circular Product Design, she explores the crucial relationships between consumer behavior, sustainability, and design while leading the Design for the Circular Economy master class that helps professionals implement circular principles in their work. Her influence extends beyond academia through practical frameworks and methodologies that help businesses transition from linear to circular economy models, with particular attention to user-centered sustainable design that fosters lasting relationships between users and products. Through her work, she continues to shape the field of sustainable design by developing practical tools and approaches that bridge the gap between theoretical circular economy principles and their real-world implementation, while maintaining focus on both environmental impact and economic viability.

Professor Ruud Balkenende has established himself as a leading authority in Circular Product Design at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, where he investigates product design strategies for circular economy recovery pathways. His academic journey began with a PhD focusing on copper in automotive exhaust catalyst materials, followed by a significant tenure at Philips Research from 1990, where he worked at the intersection of technological innovation and business applications. His research focus shifted in 2009 to address critical issues of materials scarcity and product recyclability, emphasizing the connection between product architecture and resource efficiency. Since 2013, he has expanded his scope from recyclability to broader circular economy principles, concentrating on functional reuse of products and components rather than just material recovery. As editor of recent publications on repair in the circular economy and leader in sustainable design education, he continues to advance the field through developing design methods that enable multiple product lifecycles, exploring circular design strategies, and investigating business models that support product life-extension, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling.

Janne de Hoop serves as a junior lecturer in Circular Product Design at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, where she completed her master's degree in Integrated Product Design in 2017. Her academic focus on post-consumer plastic recycling earned her a specialization in Technology in Sustainable Development. She currently contributes to TU Delft's educational initiatives by teaching courses in Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy and sharing her expertise in circular design principles. As an educator, she focuses on developing innovative approaches to sustainable product design and circular economy implementation, particularly in the context of packaging systems and post-consumer recycling. Her work bridges the gap between theoretical circular economy principles and practical applications in product design, contributing to the development of next-generation sustainable design solutions.

Jos Vlugter currently serves as a circular economy consultant at Partners for Innovation while maintaining his role as a junior lecturer in Circular Product Design at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. After graduating from the Strategic Product Design programme in 2017, where his thesis focused on investigating barriers to plastics recycling and cross-industry applications of recycled plastics, he has made significant contributions to sustainable design education. His work includes developing key educational initiatives such as the Circular Economy: An Introduction MOOC and the Delft Design Approach MOOCs. At TU Delft, he teaches Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy, focusing on closed-loop packaging systems and renewable materials. Within the INCREACE project, he researches consumer acceptance of recycled plastics in electrical and electronic equipment, demonstrating his commitment to bridging academic knowledge with practical industry applications in circular economy and sustainable design.

Jannes Nelissen serves as a junior lecturer in Circular Product Design at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, where he completed his master's in Integrated Product Design. His research focuses on enabling the recycling of 3D printed electronics in a circular economy, specifically investigating design measures and recycling methods for embedded electronic components. His master's thesis explored innovative approaches to material liberation and predictable fracturing in electronic waste recycling. Beyond his academic work, he has made significant contributions to educational initiatives, including the development of the MOOC "Circular Economy: An Introduction" and leading the student initiative Circular Delft. Currently, he teaches in the Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy program, where he applies his expertise in sustainable production and open source product design. Though initially drawn to sports equipment design, his passion evolved toward sustainable manufacturing and circular economy principles, making him a valuable contributor to TU Delft's circular design curriculum.