The trend of modern packaging industry - green packaging

Abstract: In order to avoid the impact of various packaging on the environment as much as possible, protect the environment, save resources, and benefit people, we will study the development direction of modern packaging—green packaging. Faced with the development of modern packaging, combined with the author's experience in the internship process of Langfang Zhongben Packaging Co., Ltd., drawing on the essence of packaging development in developed countries, in-depth study of a large number of relevant packaging materials, found the necessity and necessity of developing green packaging. Determine the development goal of modern packaging - green packaging. Start with the meaning of green packaging, grasp the advantages of green packaging, and demonstrate the important role and significance of developing green packaging in modern life. Promote research and development of green packaging, encourage people to join the green packaging industry, remind people of environmental awareness, and reduce and eliminate the environmental pollution caused by the packaging industry. Let people deeply understand the necessity and importance of developing green packaging, let people understand from the essence that products without green packaging will be eliminated, it is imperative to develop green packaging, and encourage more people to invest in the development of green packaging This industry comes up.

Keywords: green packaging environment environmental pollution recovery

The so-called green packaging refers to packaging that is harmless to the ecological environment and human health, can be recycled or recycled, and can promote sustainable development. Green packaging is a major event to protect the environment, save resources, and benefit people. With the improvement of people's living standards, the requirements for the packaging of goods are getting higher and higher. Now people not only require that the goods are packaged beautifully, economically, practically, but also need to meet the requirements of environmental protection. At present, the world has set off a green storm centered on protecting the environment and conserving resources. The first environmental protection design criteria have also been deepened in various industries. The packaging industry is developing in the direction of green packaging from aspects such as design concepts, material selection, production processes, product performance, and waste disposal.

According to relevant department investigations, in 2001, the global market for packaging materials and containers expanded to USD 434 billion, a growth rate of 12.5%. However, the rapid development of the packaging industry has also become one of the largest polluting and resource-wasting industries. According to statistics, packaging waste in urban garbage in the United States accounts for about 35% or more. In Japan, this proportion is as high as 45%. Packaging waste in the European Community also accounts for 30% to 50% of urban garbage. China still does not have reliable statistics, but it is estimated that it is at least 15% and it is still showing upward momentum. It is imperative to develop green packaging.

Therefore, "green packaging" has become a slogan for the development of the packaging industry in many countries. According to statistics, as of December 2001, China's green packaging enterprises have approached 1,000, industry investment has exceeded 8 billion yuan, and annual total output value has been no less than 3 billion yuan.

As an important new force in the environmental protection industry, green packaging also faces new and tremendous opportunities for development. According to MTI (Market Tracking International) market survey company's survey and forecast, the global packaging market size was 380.8 billion U.S. dollars in 1997. If we add the value of the packaging processing and printing industry, the packaging-related market is even larger, with an estimated over 800 billion yuan. Dollars. In 2001, the global market for packaging materials and containers expanded to US$ 434 billion, an increase of 12.5%.

Among them, the convenience food packaging that we often see - instant noodle bowls and beverage packaging bottles are basically environmentally friendly packaging. If we compare the demand for cups, lunch boxes, supermarket trays, and instant noodle bowls, the demand for eco-friendly drinks is the largest, followed by fast food, convenience food packaging, and the total demand for supermarket trays.

Although the current development of the green packaging industry is fast, the production capacity cannot meet the actual demand. Take the green tableware as an example to analyze the current market conditions. The total demand for fast food in the country is about 6 billion pieces, and the total demand for various kinds of instant noodle bowls exceeds 5 billion pieces; in addition, the total demand for net dishes and food trays used in large quantities in supermarkets is no less than 1 billion pieces, adding up to one piece. The total annual demand is about 12 billion, and potential sales should not be less than 3 billion yuan. At present, the actual output of green tableware in China is only about 3 billion pieces, which is only 1/4 of the total actual demand.

According to Liu Jia, secretary-general of the Green Packaging Professional Committee of the Department of Comprehensive Utilization of Resources and Economic Resources of the State Economic and Trade Commission, China's annual exports of goods do not meet the environmental protection package requirements of importing countries, causing losses of up to 1 billion yuan. At the same time, China produces about 15 million tons of packaging waste each year, especially "white pollution" is even more serious. China's current plastic packaging material wastes nearly 1 million tons per year and has accumulated more than 8 million tons of white garbage to date, highlighting plastic dining boxes, cutlery, cup trays, electrical foam fillings, beverage bottles, yogurt cups, and various kinds of candies. Plastic packaging for small foods, various plastic bags, etc. These plastic wastes do not rot, do not degrade, have a large amount of waste, and are difficult to manage, which has brought serious impact on China's ecological environment. The international and domestic demands for green packaging are increasing. It can be asserted that in the 21st century, the international and domestic packaging markets will be the world of green packaging. Products without green packaging will be gradually eliminated by the market. At the same time, the green packaging itself is a sunrise industry and it is worthwhile for companies to invest more capital and technology.

Developed countries in the world have specified the “4R+1D” principle for green packaging: Reduce consumption, and the best packaging for the environment is the one with the least amount of use, when the recyclability of the packaging conflicts with the reduction in usage. Should consider the latter first; reuse (Reuse), consider all packaging or partial packaging after use, recycling, treatment can be used again; recycling (Recycle), recycling of used packaging, processing and reprocessing , Used in different fields; Obtain new value (Recover), such as using heat energy of recovered waste through incineration without generating harmful gases; Degradable, unable to recover in waste packaging or costly recovery Under the circumstances, the packaging itself can degrade under natural conditions and enter into the metabolism of nature.

We should realize that the implementation of packaging waste reduction, harmlessness, and resource utilization has pushed the work of environmentally friendly packaging products far beyond national borders, becoming a strong green trend under the trend of economic globalization, and social and economic development calling for green Packing goes into battle, the domestic packaging industry should rise to catch up with the world's advanced level, and only then will we not get farther and farther from the developed countries after China enters the WTO.

After China's accession to the WTO, as more and more products will be manufactured and exported in China, although the normal tariff barriers are reduced, as mentioned above, it is foreseeable that developed countries will be more in the form of green technical barriers against China’s The product proposes higher technical requirements and environmental standards.

China's packaging industry is responsible for the task of packaging 300 billion yuan worth of industrial and agricultural products and 100 billion U.S. dollars worth of export commodities every year. The annual losses caused by poor packaging amount to several billion yuan, of which the considerable ones are due to the fact that they do not meet the importing countries' green packaging requirements. Caused by. The green barriers set by the United States, Canada, the European Union and other countries have given us a very profound lesson. The green barriers most frequently encountered in the international market are: green technical standards, green environmental signs, green packaging systems, green health quarantine systems, and green subsidies. Wait for several forms. Regardless of the form of these regulations, the essence is the same: that is, to develop green technologies that are easily attainable by developed countries, and that developing countries cannot achieve or have to pay for them because of technological or financial lag. Standards, certification requirements and green systems, use these seemingly equal green terms to set a higher threshold for developing countries, so as to achieve the purpose of restricting the export of developing country products.

In general, green packaging should have the following meanings: First, material conservation, less waste, save energy and resources; Second, easy to recycle; Third, waste can be converted into new energy, no secondary pollution; Fourth, materials Can be naturally degraded without polluting the environment. In a nutshell, an appropriate package that can be reused, recycled or degraded, and that does not cause harm to the human body and the environment throughout the product's lifecycle is called green packaging. The continuous growth and development of the packaging industry in China has enabled the packaging materials to have a broad space for development. Many materials such as paper, plastic, metal and glass are widely used in various packaging. However, while packaging brings convenience and benefits to people, it also causes serious damage to the environment in which human beings live. On the one hand, packaging consumes a lot of energy and resources. On the other hand, increasing packaging waste has become second only to humans. Fourth-person pollution sources of water pollution, marine lake pollution and air pollution. Based on the sustainable development strategy, it is of special significance to develop green packaging materials and develop green packaging extensively.

The packaging environment has caused the Chinese government to pay more attention. The relevant departments of the country have speeded up the guidance work for the research and development of green packaging products, so this article has to make some useful discussions on this.

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