Japanese knotweed, a useful material for graphic products

Abstract

Eco-design is an approach to designing products with special consideration for the environmental impacts of the product during its whole lifecycle. To design packaging, it is important to seek for new packaging materials that are sustainable, recyclable and if possible also biodegradable. One of such materials is cardboard, made from fibers obtained from Japanese knotweed. The goal of our research was to make innovative graphic products from this material. First, the characteristics of cardboard were determined and afterwards sustainable graphic products were designed.