Green Packaging: The Sustainable Development of Packaging Industry

Green packaging focuses on the ecological balance between man and nature, minimizing the destruction of the living environment as a strategic height to frame the design strategy, and promotes the development of economic culture and society with green packaging; green packaging fully reflects the coordination of environmental protection and economic development The sustainable development of ideological strategies, protection of the environment, and development of green packaging have become an inevitable choice for the development of packaging in countries around the world. Green packaging will become an inevitable trend in the development of the packaging industry.

First, the development status of China's green packaging

(1) The industry is developing rapidly. Due to the pressure of green packaging for export commodities, the rise of domestic environmental protection undertakings and the support of the government, the rapid development of China's green packaging industry, the increasing use of environment-friendly packaging materials, the gradual increase in market share, and the increasing technological content Some products have also reached the international advanced level and have a better market in the international market. The packaging machinery that produces green packaging products has also seen a boom in production and sales. At the same time, improper packing such as over-packaging and false packaging has gradually intensified, arousing public attention and adopting certain measures to make packaging gradually take the road of normalization. In terms of disposal of packaging waste, a small number of professional packaging waste recycling organizations have been established, and there are industrialization trends.

(2) The overall utilization rate of green packaging products is low. Every year in China, due to the poor management of green packaging, a large number of packaging containers and contents are discarded. The direct economic loss is over 15 billion yuan, of which 70% is caused by transport packaging. For example, the rate of breaking of cement is 15% - 20%, with an annual loss of about 3 million tons; the average glass breakage rate is 20%, and the annual loss is 450 million yuan. According to the statistics of the foreign trade department, due to the backwardness of the level of green packaging technology for export goods, the country will at least reduce foreign exchange earnings by 10% each year.

(3) Unbalanced regional development. The time for different companies to implement green packaging is not synchronized, and the earliest green packaging companies are export-oriented enterprises. Such companies are influenced by the international market and have a better understanding of green packaging. They have quickly adjusted their packaging strategies. Enterprises that rely mainly on the domestic market are slow to respond to green packaging. In recent years, they have only begun to engage in green packaging. Secondly, the development of the regions is not balanced, and the green packaging in the economically developed regions has developed rapidly. The green packaging in the central and western regions where the economy is relatively backward has not received sufficient attention and publicity. The development is slow. In the treatment of packaging waste, local policies and laws are inconsistent, resulting in the transfer of packaging pollution to economically underdeveloped areas.

(4) Insufficient investment in capital, technology, and talent. Due to the adoption of advanced technology and limited by the production scale of enterprises, green packaging products are often more expensive than traditional packaging products, and therefore do not have price advantages when competing with traditional packaging products. This directly led to the disadvantage of green packaging products in the market competition, which seriously affected the confidence of enterprises in developing green packaging. Green packaging is supported by high technology. Due to the lack of investment in and research on green packaging technology, China’s overall technology level is still lagging although it has an international leading level in some products. In addition, China’s shortage of talents in green packaging, especially the lack of management talents, has severely restricted the development of green packaging.

Second, China's green packaging development measures

(1) Legalization of Packaging Management

In order to protect their ecological environment from pollution, developed countries in the world economy have formulated environmental protection regulations related to packaging, and managed the production, circulation, and use of packaging in accordance with the law to reduce the pollution of wastes to the environment. In general, the legislation of each country focuses on two aspects: First, the establishment of targets for the production, use, and recycling of various types of packaging containers. There are laws that can be applied. As stipulated by relevant German laws and regulations, manufacturers and sellers of packaging products deal with the entire product life cycle. Responsible, product and packaging manufacturers and sellers are obliged to recycle and dispose of the waste generated by their products, and bear the required costs; set the recycling rate of the main products and transport packaging (milk 17%, beverage 72%, paper , plastic 64%, transport packaging 100%). Second, it is forbidden to use packaging materials that are harmful to packaging products, the environment, or consumers. For example, to protect the ozone layer, the European Union (US), Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore have banned the use of CFC-containing foams. However, as far as our country is concerned, there is no specific packaging regulation so far, which has caused many issues related to packaging and environmental protection to fail to follow or follow. In view of the practices of industrial countries in the world, and in light of the actual situation in China, packaging legislation is imperative.

(b) Establish an effective packaging waste recycling system.

For enterprises, the recycling and recycling of packaging waste can not only create considerable economic benefits, but also produce good environmental benefits. Taking recycled cans as an example, re-refining 1 ton can reduce the exploitation of 4 tons of alumina and bauxite, save 017 tons of ingredients, and can reduce 35 kg of aluminum fluoride polluting the air. The packaging industry is a cross-sector and cross-regional industry. The establishment of a recycling system for packaging waste in China should be based on laws and regulations. The packaging industry, national environmental protection agencies, and national environmental sanitation departments should coordinate with each other to regulate the behaviors of packaging producers, commodity producers, sellers, and consumers. The status, responsibilities and obligations of packaging producers, commodity producers, sellers and consumers in the system, as well as the management of packaging waste recycling and packaging waste disposal.

(III) Pursuing Cleaner Production

For the packaging industry, the potential for cleaner production is very large. It is possible to consider the reduction of resources, harmlessness, and waste during the entire life cycle of product packaging; to improve the packaging design; to promote green technologies; to clean The idea of ​​production runs through the entire process of production and use of packaging, minimizing the harm caused by packaging waste to the environment. Through the development of cleaner production, green technology has been used to enable companies to develop soundly.

(D) Implementation of packaging reduction

(1) It is forbidden to pack excessively, promote proper packaging, and implement simple packaging;

(2) The effective use of packaging dimensions, promotion of centralized packaging products and centralized services with less packaging, promotion of the development and standardization of the transport packaging standard sizes for the transportation of special specification products, and improvement of the storage capacity of packaged goods;

(4) to reduce the volume of products by improving the structure and reduce the amount of packaging materials;

(5) By selecting new materials or modifying materials to increase strength, the package can be lightweight and thin.

(v) Development of green packaging materials

China should draw lessons from industrial developed countries and vigorously develop new packaging materials that are pollution-free and less polluting. Therefore, in the selection of packaging materials:

(1) Avoid using toxic materials. The pigments, dyes, and paints used on packaging containers or labels should be made of materials that do not contain heavy metals. Adhesives used as joining materials should not only be toxic or toxic, but also be easily decomposed during separation.

(2) Use recycled materials as much as possible. At present, recycled recycled materials used in the world are mostly recycled paper, recycled cardboard boxes, molded pulp, peak pulp boards, and paper tubes made after recycling waste paper.

(3) Actively develop plant fiber packaging materials. Plant fibers can basically reproduce continuously and multiply, and the extensive use of plant fibers generally does not harm the environment, ecological balance and maintenance of resources, and is favored by the international packaging market. For example, corn straw can be used as raw material to produce biodegradable plastic film and starch and vegetable fiber as raw material to produce expanded “foam” materials.

(4) Use a single packaging material. This eliminates the need to use special tools to disassemble the material. It also saves time for recovery and separation, and avoids the difficulties of recovery and separation due to the use of bonding methods.

(6) Establish professional organizations

Many countries have established professional organizations to evaluate packaging materials, implement green dot plans, and strengthen the implementation and management of packaging recycling. For example, France has a national packaging research institute consisting of two or three thousand experts; Germany establishes specialized laboratories, assesses the degree of damage to the environment from various existing packaging materials according to ISO standards, and establishes a dual-component recycling system (DSD). ). This system provides two alternative recycling channels: one is the supplier's own recycling of packaging, and the other is the establishment of a private, non-profit organization that is responsible for organizing the recycling of packaging. The supplier can apply to join and pay a certain amount of money. Management fees become members. Members' packaging is printed with recyclable signs. After adopting this measure by German DSD in 1995, the recovery rate was over 80%, and the amount of packaging materials was greatly reduced.

In short, with the progress of economic globalization, China's packaging industry is facing great challenges and opportunities, implementing the green packaging development strategy, and vigorously strengthening the establishment and improvement of green packaging policies and theoretical systems to achieve the overall package system Optimization is conducive to environmental protection, economic growth, and sustainable development of China's packaging industry.

Author: Fu Ying