This is the eighth special issue on Design and Manufacturing for Environmental Sustainability. Since the first special issue published in 2009, this topic has been featured in this journal for 17 years. Even at that time, environmental sustainability was recognized as an important issue for manufacturing, which motivated the launch of this series of special issues.

Since then, the importance and urgency of environmental sustainability have increased, not only in Europe but also in Japan and other countries. Currently, companies are increasingly expected to achieve both economic competitiveness and environmental and social sustainability. This evolution is redefining manufacturing by steering beyond the conventional model of mass production, mass sales, mass consumption, and mass disposal. Increasing concerns over resource security are further accelerating this transition. These developments highlight the necessity to reconsider how products are designed, manufactured, used, and circulated throughout their life cycles.

This eighth special issue includes nine high-quality papers encompassing a broad range of topics related to environmental sustainability, including

• Circular economy

• Disassembly and assembly

• Plastics recycling

• Effects of consumer behavior on sustainability

• Supply-chain management

• Waste treatment

Most of the papers were originally presented at EcoDesign 2025: the 14th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, which was held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2025. These papers were subsequently revised and extended at the editors’ invitation to provide further insights into the challenges and opportunities of sustainable manufacturing.

The editors extend sincere thanks to all the authors and reviewers for their dedicated efforts in making this special issue possible. We hope that these papers will stimulate further research and development in design and manufacturing for environmental sustainability and contribute to the transition toward more sustainable manufacturing systems.