4. Conclusion

The eco-design approach presented in this article can be applied fairly systematically, and is highly effective in a continuous improvement process.

Nevertheless, the joint consideration of the environment, product quality and process characteristics remains a point on which methodological advances are still needed. Multi-criteria evaluation and design tools adapted to the problems of food, bioproducts and (bio)processes would be very useful in proposing the most relevant solutions possible.

In addition, issues of change of scale are currently little addressed in the field of ecodesign, even though they are a crucial point. Solutions are often developed and tested on a small scale, and compared with optimized solutions on a large scale. This necessarily leads to a time lag in the results obtained, and comparisons become difficult under these...