"Green Packaging"

"Green Packaging", as the popular term for environmentally friendly packaging materials and products, is being accepted by the majority of users, but there are also many misunderstandings in practice. To develop "green packaging" and reduce the pollution of packaging waste to the environment, we must start from the source of the choice of packaging materials, select the appropriate processing method, and formulate a reasonable policy for the development of the industry. Only in this way can the problem of environmental pollution from packaging waste be truly contained.
What is "green packaging"
"Green packaging" refers to packaging products that have no or little environmental pollution during production and processing, are safe and sanitary during use, and are harmless to the environment during waste disposal. "Green packaging" includes three major aspects: material selection, product processing methods and waste disposal. "Green packaging" comes from "white pollution." The so-called "white pollution" mainly refers to the destruction of packaging waste to the environment, because most of the packaging is white or colorless. However, in actual life, many people have such deviations in the understanding of "green packaging."
Misunderstandings in the understanding of green packaging Many people think that the packaging that waste can easily handle is "green packaging." "PVC is environmentally friendly because it generates harmful gases, and paper packs are burned without the generation of harmful substances. Therefore, consumers and non-professional media reporters often judge whether or not the materials are conducive to environmental protection according to their own common sense." . A typical example is: All paper packaging is labeled as "environmental protection", which is a very harmful trend.
Other misconceptions about "green packaging" include: "Green packaging" is a new form of packaging; "green packaging" can reduce costs; "green packaging" can form a new large industry.
The material selection of "green packaging" is fundamental. Paper, plastic, metal and glass are the four major packaging materials and cover almost all types of packaging products. Comparing the environmental performance of different materials should be considered from several aspects such as the recyclability of resources, the continuous use of materials, the energy consumption and pollution of materials processing, and processing costs.
Resource Renewability and Continuing Use of Materials The raw materials for papermaking are mainly woods, plastics, metals, and glass, which are extracted from petroleum, natural gas, or coal, iron ore, and quartz minerals.
From the perspective of resource regeneration, the forest has unique advantages and good reproducibility. The time it takes for a tree to grow from seedlings to trees is much shorter than that of oil and ore. It can be said that in addition to forests, whether it is oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, or even quartz, its resource renewability is only a theoretical one. However, this does not mean that the global forest resources can be regenerated and consumed in a balanced manner. The fact is that the consumption of forest trees in the world is far greater than that of newly planted forests. Moreover, secondary forests do not have the ecological effects of virgin forests. In other words, the original forest is also not reproducible. It is also worth noting that forests exist on the Earth's surface, and the impact on the human living environment is much more direct and severe than that of minerals.
We cannot deny the fact that any mineral is limited. But at the same time, it cannot be denied that modern civilization is based on mining and petroleum exploitation. Whether it is oil or iron ore, its mining and use is not exclusive to the packaging industry. In fact, the production of plastic polyolefin raw materials is a by-product of petroleum processing. When plastics are not invented, they can only be used as fuel or directly discharged. The production of plastics can be said to be the point of art of science and technology. It is itself a kind of turning waste into treasure. However, the known reserves of iron ore, aluminum or quartz, and even coal are very abundant. The exploitation itself has a much smaller impact on the human living environment than the deforestation.
The energy consumption and pollution generated during the processing process will not only consume energy but also cause pollution when paper, metal or plastic resins are made from raw materials and then processed into paper packaging products, metal packaging containers, and plastic packaging products and glass packaging products. Whether a package is environmentally friendly cannot be ignored.
No matter which kind of material, it consumes a lot of energy during the manufacturing process. There are a lot of "three wastes" in the papermaking process. The formation of acid rain is mainly related to the "three wastes" produced by papermaking. Last year, China shut down thousands of small paper mills because the waste water from these small paper mills seriously polluted rivers and lakes. Can not rule out some large foreign paper mills have a good "three wastes" treatment devices and measures, but in terms of the actual situation in China, among the four kinds of packaging materials, paper manufacturing process is the worst environmental protection. Metal plates will also produce “three wastes” in the manufacturing process, especially waste residue. However, relatively speaking, enterprises that can manufacture cold rolled sheet or aluminum plate for packaging are very large-scale metallurgical plants, and environmental protection measures are relatively complete. Similarly, the production of plastic resins can only be completed by large-scale petrochemical companies. Not only are the three resins generated during the synthesis of plastic resins less, but these modern companies also have stricter measures for environmental protection. The production of glass requires a lot of energy, and it also produces "three wastes", but the degree of harm is not high.
Reuse is the highest level of environmental protection measures. Internationally popular reuse, reduction of weight loss, and recycling are recognized as the three principles of environmental protection. However, these three items actually have different degrees of environmental protection. Reuse is the highest level of environmental protection.
Reuse can maximize the life of products and materials. For example, glass bottles containing beer and condiments can be reused five times or more, and cans can only be used once and need to be recycled. Another example is beverage packaging. PET bottles are the most commonly used containers, and most of them need to be recycled after one use. For this reason, Europe has already begun to produce thick PET bottles, which can be recycled many times, while China is also making efforts to reduce weight. Similar to dairy products, glass bottles of milk or yogurt, bottles can be reused after drinking, while cartons and plastic cups can only be used once. The plastic turnover box is a common transportation and packaging method for beverages and beer and can be used many times. However, in recent years, many beer companies have switched to using disposable cartons. This is actually not an environmental protection practice.
Most composite materials are not environmentally friendly. Single-layer materials often fail to meet performance requirements. Therefore, paper and plastic are often used in the form of composite materials, such as composite paper containers and most plastic packaging bags for liquid food and beverage packaging.
In fact, composites are often not capable of recreating similar products. For example, a composite paper container is a composite of paper, plastic, aluminum foil, and a binder. After a single use, paper, plastic, and aluminum foil cannot be separated and can only be reconstructed into sheets for other uses. In fact, paper and plastic are actually shortened. And the "life cycle" of aluminum foil. Plastic bags made of PP, PE or PVC can be processed into plastic bags or used for the production of other plastic daily products after use, but if these materials are compounded with nylon or other high-barrier materials, they can only be incinerated after use. There is no value for re-use.
Lightening, weight reduction, and thinning can reduce the amount of packaging materials used. However, if a thicker single material can achieve the performance of thinner composites, then packaging using a single material is a more environmentally friendly practice. At this point, glass and metal packaging are undoubtedly more environmentally friendly.
To protect the “green packaging” for the protection of the environment and commercial interests, we must formulate reasonable policies. We must not only consider technical factors, but also consider the actual allocation of resources; we must not only consider costs, but also consider social benefits. “Green packaging” should be a package that is environmentally friendly from the processing of materials and products to the disposal of waste. It cannot be taken out of context. One-sided thinking that waste is easy to handle is “green packaging”, which is conducive to environmental protection.
If considering the whole process of manufacturing, use and recycling, glass and metal packaging are undoubtedly the most environmentally friendly materials and packaging products, but the reality is that the share of glass and metal packaging containers is shrinking. Because in modern society, whether a commodity can gain market recognition will be constrained by many factors.
The decrease in market share of glass packaging is because the glass is bulky and fragile and cannot fully meet the requirements of the modern society. The share of metal packaging is reduced because of the high cost of metal packaging and the inability to cater to young people's demand for transparent packaging; Although waste is easy to handle, China's forest resources are extremely scarce. In the face of such contradictions, consumers should realize that “environmental protection” is not a slogan but an action. To protect the environment, it may be necessary to lose some convenience and even pay a higher price. Because environmental protection as a whole is definitely not a matter that can reduce costs. Choosing "green packaging" often means paying more money.
Moreover, do not think that "green packaging" is all new products. Selecting "green packaging" is sometimes a return of choice, just like returning to nature.