"Green" Requirements for Commodity Packaging

Since human society has had a flow of goods, there has been the existence of packaging. The beginning of the packaging is very simple, such as pots, straw baskets, straw rope, leaves, wooden boxes and so on. The role of packaging at the time was also limited to the protection of goods and ease of transport. With the development of the commodity economy, packaging has become a means of marketing, playing the role of protecting the goods, facilitating transportation, easily identifying, communicating, reflecting culture, and promoting sales. Now, packaging has become an important process that cannot be ignored in the production of products. When people enjoy the convenience, hygiene, safety, and beauty of the packaging that life brings, a crisis is quietly hitting people. The waste of resources and environmental pollution caused by a large amount of packaging waste. According to statistics, the amount of plastic packaging in the world alone amounts to more than 30 million tons, while plastic packaging waste accounts for one third of the total. China is the fourth largest plastic producer in the world, with an annual output of 15 million tons. The packaging accounts for 30% of the total. Seventy percent of these plastic packagings are disposable after being used for one-time use. Relevant persons pointed out that in the future, China's packaging waste will increase at a rate of 3%-5% per year. These wastes will destroy the ecological balance and become a public hazard. The revolution in the world's science and technology has brought about rapid advancement in social productivity. It has produced tremendous material wealth for mankind and brought with it a series of environmental issues. Many global environmental problems such as environmental pollution, depletion of resources, and ecological destruction have constrained the sustainable development of the economy and endangered the long-term interests of mankind. In the 2005 plan formulated by China, environmental protection efforts have been increased. The planning requirements include: controlling the population reasonably, making sustainable and rational use of resources, improving the urban and rural environment and inhibiting ecological deterioration, and improving the quality and efficiency of economic development. As an industrial sector, the packaging industry also faces environmental and resource issues without exception. Packaging makes it safe to reach consumers, and the credit for packaging is obvious. The problem is not in the packaging, the key is to correctly handle the relationship between packaging and the environment. This article talks about the environmental protection design of packaging products from several aspects.

First of all, the environmental protection design of commodity packaging should begin with the packaging materials.

Environmental protection materials refer to materials that have good environmental compatibility under the premise of meeting general functional requirements. Basic consensus has been reached in the academic and industrial communities that environmental protection materials and their technologies are inevitable trends in material development. Please note the following points when selecting materials.

Try to use less energy-consuming and low-pollution materials. Paper materials are widely used in the packaging industry. The raw materials of paper are mainly natural plant fibers, which are quickly decomposed in the natural world and cause environmental pollution. Low, and can be recycled; preferred renewable materials, such as recycled paper, recycled pulp, recycled plastics, recycled glass, etc., use recycled materials as much as possible, improve resource utilization, achieve sustainable development, common beer, beverages, soy sauce Glass bottles used in packaging such as vinegar are recycled materials that can be used repeatedly;

Select materials with good environmental compatibility and avoid the use of toxic, hazardous, and radioactive materials. The materials used should be easily recycled, reused, remanufactured, or easily degraded. For example, glutinous rice paper used in familiar candy packaging and corn baking and packaging cups for packaging ice cream are typical edible packaging. Such materials are both economical and non-polluting. It can be said that it is worth promoting. The selection of environmentally friendly materials is a prerequisite and key factor in the development of environmentally friendly products. When selecting materials, we must not only consider the function of the packaged products, but also consider the environmental constraints. We should use materials that are non-toxic, non-polluting, easily recycled, and easily degradable, such as Reusable and reusable packaging materials, edible packaging materials, degradable materials, paper materials, etc. In general, cardboard, metal, glass, biodegradable plastics, bamboo, cloth, etc. are all environmental protection materials;

The environmental protection design of commodity packaging should consider the structural design of the commodity. When carrying out packaging design, the packaging structure should be as simple as possible. Excessive packaging of goods not only consumes more materials, but also increase the volume of the packaging, causing waste of resources, and it also makes cities The increase in the quantity of garbage is not conducive to environmental protection. Excessively luxuriant packaging wastes resources and aggravates environmental pollution. Environmental packaging should avoid this situation as much as possible. Such as traditional moon cake packaging, individual small packaging, combined medium packaging, plus large box of outer packaging, three layers and three layers, only a total of packaging "# $ moon cake, the value of its packaging is higher than the Several times the value, the pollution and waste caused by such packaging are particularly serious, and today, the promotion of simple moon cake packaging has increasingly adapted to the needs of the market. At the same time, by changing the structure of goods, we can reduce the weight of goods and achieve improvement. To reduce the cost effect and reduce the adverse impact on the environment, of course, can also improve the internal structure of the product packaging strength, reduce the risk of damage to the goods in the transport process, in order to reduce the repeated application of packaging materials to reduce packaging costs.

Second, the way to realize the environmental protection design of commodity packaging technology.

Change the input method of raw materials, use them locally, reuse the valuable products and recycled products, recycle various materials during the process, change production technology or manufacturing technology, improve process control, and transform existing equipment. Consumption of raw materials, generation of waste, energy consumption, health and safety risks, and damage to ecology are minimized; the use of the natural environment is as far as possible, and environmental assessments of air, soil, water, and waste discharges are conducted, based on relative environmental load. Scale to determine its impact on biodiversity, human health and natural resources.

Third, the environmental design of packaging recycling is of utmost importance.

Recycling and environmental protection design, it is a kind of packaging material in the initial stage of the design will consider the possibility of recycling of packaging materials, recycling value, recycling methods and a series of issues, so as to achieve the maximum use of packaging materials, energy, and the environment The least polluting design ideas and methods. Recyclable design includes: recyclable materials and signs, recyclable processes and methods, economic evaluation of recyclability, recyclable structural design, and more. At present, many countries in the world are using direct recycling technology to collect, sort, crush, clean, melt, or directly shape plastic bottles. In order to improve the classification efficiency, the United States developed a plastic bottle automatic delivery system that uses a computer-controlled mechanical device and a fluorescence sensor to automatically detect PET bottles from PVC and PET bottles and remove them from the conveyor belt. Environmentalists in China pointed out that the main culprit of “white pollution” is not the lunch boxes and plastic bags themselves, but they are not well recycled. Now some cities in our country have also proposed that whoever produces a disposable lunch box who is responsible for recycling, and has formulated a reward and punishment policy for recycling, which has played a good effect. Some other cities have reclaimed waste plastic packaging into renewable plastics through conversion and recycling technologies for reuse or developed waste plastics refining technologies, which have been well received by the industry. At present, the Chinese government has invested heavily in the planning and construction of garbage collection, sub-refinery and power generation projects, which are of great significance for protecting the ecological environment and sustainable development.

Fourth, packaging cost analysis and environmental design in use.

The cost analysis of environmental protection packaging is different from the traditional packaging cost analysis. It is in the initial stage of product design, we must consider the analysis of the performance of product recycling, recycling, etc. In addition, whether the expenditure of environmental protection on the enterprise will affect the cost accounting of the product, And there are differences in the actual costs of the same environmental projects in different countries. Therefore, environmental packaging cost analysis should be carried out at the beginning of each design, so as to lower the cost of design packaging. In the course of use, commodities consume resources and burden the environment. Therefore, attention should be paid to the energy consumption and environmental pollution caused by the use of commodities during the product packaging design stage. The design of eco-friendly products should be oriented toward the use of commodities, combined with commodities. The use of features and work methods, the use of advanced technology and technology, improve the design program to minimize the energy consumption of goods in use. There are goods there are packaging, and now more and more countries and regions to promote the environmental protection of packaging design, have promoted the green revolution of the packaging industry, that is, the so-called green design. Green design means that environmental factors and pollution prevention measures are incorporated into product design at the design stage. Environmental performance is taken as the product's design goal and starting point, and the impact of the product on the environment is minimized. Green packaging design from packaging reduction, ease of disposal, utilization of recycled materials, refilling, returnable use of permanent use, recycling of renewable energy, other energy conservation measures, utilization of natural conservation materials, etc. Green design is promoted, and green packaging is divided into different types and different levels in the form of laws and regulations. Now, many countries and regions have taken effective measures to carry out the green revolution in the packaging industry. Governments and non-governmental organizations in various countries have taken joint actions to jointly prevent environmental pollution in the packaging industry and the entire environmental field, and more and more consumers are interested in buying The "Environmental Protection Mark" products, the international community has also formulated different regulations and policies as well as environmental protection packaging standards, it can be predicted that environmental protection packaging design will be an important trend in the development of the packaging industry. With the reduction of various resources on the earth and the deteriorating living environment, it is imperative to develop environmentally-friendly packaging. Whoever develops environmentally-friendly packaging will have an important position in the packaging market. It can be predicted that the environmental protection design of commodity packaging will surely be the theme of the global packaging industry in the new century, and it is also a significant feature of the development of the packaging industry in the new century.