Designing sustainable sunscreens: a quality function deployment-based circular approach

The development of circular products in the cosmetics sector necessitates a rethinking of design and production processes to ensure both consumer safety and environmental sustainability. This study introduces an enhanced Quality Function Deployment (QFD) framework that integrates circular economy principles into product design. Applied to a case study on an innovative, lignin-based sunscreen, the model demonstrates how circular criteria can be systematically incorporated into decision-making. The findings highlight that the proposed QFD-QCC approach improves alignment between customer needs, technical feasibility, and sustainability performance. It enables designers to prioritise interventions that optimise resource use, reduce production costs, and enhance environmental outcomes. Overall, the proposed framework provides a practical and replicable tool for integrating circularity into sustainable product design, offering insights applicable beyond the cosmetics industry.