Strengthen environmental awareness and develop "green packaging"

In recent years, increasing packaging waste has brought considerable pressure on environmental protection and has become a headache for governments. Some developed countries have been forced to develop “green packaging” under the dual pressure of resource crisis and pollution prevention and control. At present, recycling and recycling of packaging materials resources have formed new industrial systems in developed countries such as Europe and the United States. Its successful experience and practices are worth learning from. The United States implements packaging waste disposal fees and reuse. According to the US “Packaging Digest”, the Florida State Government is actively implementing the Waste Disposal Prepayment Law, or ADF for short, which allows everyone to freely choose the cost of disposing of packaging waste, so that consumers can bear the cost.

In order to encourage packaging container manufacturers to support the implementation of the law, ADF stipulates that as long as a certain level of recycling can be applied to apply for a tax exemption from packaging waste, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (DEP) annual material recovery rate, where the recovery of up to 50 More than % of containers can be exempted from pre-payment to encourage all producers to ensure that at least half of their products are available for recycling. At present, the United States recycles more than 40 million tons of used cartons per year. The recycled packaging used cartons are treated chemically. Can be reused afterwards.
The European Union's "Green Plan" requires member states to double the amount of waste glass recovered within two to three years. It is estimated that this measure will save 25 million liters of oil, save 2 million tons of bottled materials, and save garbage disposal fees. 2000 10,000 mark, so that the waste of glass waste reduction of 20%.

The representative of the packaging industry in the Netherlands signed a contract with the government that included foreign products circulated on the Dutch market. The contract states that 65% of the packaging materials must be reusable from now on, of which 45% of the packaging materials must be recycled, and 20% require the use of incineration to produce energy.

Switzerland is implementing a plan for the recycling of PET and glass. In 1988, the recycling rate of domestic packaging materials in Switzerland reached 80%. Currently, a pre-paid 0.5 Flang deposit system for each can and each soft drink container is implemented to ensure the recycling of packaging containers.

Germany implements the "Recycling Economy Law," which stipulates in legal form that commodity producers and distributors must recycle packaging waste. The decree requires containers and packaging to be marked with green signs. The consumer clicks this to put the garbage into the trash, which is then recycled by a dedicated company. The company is set up jointly by producers and distributors. Commodity producers and distributors pay green label usage fees to recycling companies based on production volume and sales volume. Related companies are trying to pack packaging materials that are simple and lightweight.

According to statistics, Germany has reduced household and retail packaging waste by 200,000 tons in the past five years. The scope of application of the "Recycling Economic Law" has expanded to areas such as automobiles and electronic equipment. Afterwards, it has gradually expanded to furniture, building materials, etc. The purpose is to minimize packaging waste and reduce the pressure of packaging waste on the environment. In Germany, the proportion of newsprint produced using old packaging paper is 50 to 60%. Products produced from waste paper can be seen everywhere on the market. Such as notebooks, toilet paper, letterheads, etc. 71% of the glass bottles consumed in the market are recycled, which is close to the government requirement of 72%. The German federal government has also promoted the use of PET materials by the industrial sector to convert PVC bottles to PET bottles, and requested that 80% of PET bottles be recycled.

Japan is committed to raising people's awareness of environmental protection, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has announced a set of recommendations for product packaging, which deals with the handling of consumer product packaging. Reduce the amount of waste and encourage recycling. It is suggested that a deposit be collected from the customer when selling packages that pollute the environment. Wait until the consumer has consumed the product and returned the package to the store before returning the deposit.

In order to tie in with this proposal, the Japan Department Store Association established a committee to study ways to save energy and work closely with packers. The committee designed two sets of department store commodity packaging standards. The main points of environmental protection are: packaging raw materials or containers must not endanger human health; minimize the use of packaging materials that are difficult to degrade after they are discarded; try to reduce the packaging volume: The volume of the space inside the container should not exceed 20% of the volume of the product. The committee also insisted on adopting the simplest packaging method and even required zero packaging efforts.

In terms of packaging waste disposal and recycling, as early as the 50's, Japan's packaging waste paper recycling rate reached 50% and Tokyo reached 80%. Due to the high recovery rate of used paper, Japan has become the second largest paper producer in the world. There are 200 waste glass recycling centers in Japan. Reduced the amount of garbage in Japan by 5%. Japan has also consistently controlled the use of plastic packaging materials that cannot be decomposed and try to use carton packs that are recyclable.

China’s per capita resource share is very low and it is also a large developing country. We must also have the responsibility to put the issue of “green packaging” in an important position. We should start researching and developing new types of “green packaging materials” through the recycling of packaging materials, ease of handling, and reduction of pollution, and strengthen environmental protection through legislation.

Liu Beichen Tianjin University of Finance and Economics

Reprinted from: Packaging World