The rational disposal of packaging waste must be comprehensively considered from the three strategic heights of energy, resources, and ecological environment protection to form a broader governance system that includes all sources of packaging waste. Figure 1-1 shows the production, reuse and disposal of packaging waste.
This governance system actually includes three aspects: one is to minimize packaging waste, the second is the pretreatment of packaging waste before discharge, and the third is the treatment of packaging waste after discharge.
(1) Rational disposal of packaging waste in the production of packaging and production and circulation of packaged goods
In order to achieve a reasonable disposal of packaging waste, in the production of packaging, during the production and distribution of packaged goods, it shall:
1. Establish a system of provincial resources, energy-efficient packaging production and packaging production and distribution, requiring that waste generated by the company be reused by enterprises in principle, and minimize the final discharge of waste. Within limits.
2. When designing and manufacturing packaging, it is necessary to consider that the packaging can be easily recycled when it is turned into waste, and no harmful substances will be generated during the processing stage.
3. The leftovers in production should be used as much as possible.
4. Try to reuse the packaging container.
5. To prevent the use of excess packaging.
(2) Rational disposal of packaging waste in the consumption of packaged goods
In order to achieve reasonable disposal of packaging waste, at the consumption stage of packaged goods should be:
1. Consumers are required to actively support the recycling of packaging waste after it is discharged, including compliance with relevant rules and regulations.
2. Consumers are required to reuse the packaging waste that may be reused in the waste recycling system and no longer be discarded as municipal waste.
3. Requires increased awareness of environmental protection, changes in values, and rational packaging of provincial resources. Of course, if the consumer does not purchase because of the ease of packaging, this kind of packaging is not a reasonable package.
(III) Treatment after discharge of packaging waste
In order to achieve the proper disposal of packaging waste, it is necessary to:
1. It is required to establish a reasonable collection system that can be accepted by residents and workers and meet local recycling conditions.
2. It is required to maintain environmental sanitation through effective collection and transportation, and strive to save energy consumption for transportation.
3. In the incineration process, secondary pollution should be prevented as much as possible and the reuse of waste should be promoted.
4. For the final waste that must be landfilled, its quantity and volume should be minimized, made harmless, and the environment around the treatment site should be protected.
In the packaging industry, emphasis is placed on reducing the amount of waste discharged from waste sources. In general, the effective utilization of waste paper and scrap metal can reach a high level, which can reach more than 80%. As for the commodity consumption stage, it is necessary to organize the recycling of packaging waste, such as corrugated paper, cartons, metal cans, glass bottles, and certain plastics, so that they should be reconverted into resources.
In the middle process of collecting and transporting waste, it is often possible to reuse the waste by means of classified collection. This approach requires a high degree of cooperation among households, which can greatly reduce the technical and economic burdens of the intermediate processing. Of course, the form of work for the professionals working on the collection work will also be complicated. Generally speaking, the cost of collecting and transporting waste accounts for more than 75% of the total cost of processing waste.
Sometimes in the intermediate processing waste, it often goes through two stages: one is pretreatment, including crushing, sorting, distinguishing iron, glass, non-ferrous metal, paper, plastic, etc., recovering a part of materials from here, and secondly, converting processing. That is, the part that cannot be recycled is converted into energy or other uses. Packaging waste is the main component of energy converted from urban waste: steam is generated by incineration, or steam is used to generate electricity, heat, and hot water. In other ways, packaging waste can be made into pyrolysis to produce fuel gas, oil, carbon black, or used as waste to sinter construction materials.
The final disposal of packaging waste is landfill.
From the above, we can see that packaging waste needs to be comprehensively utilized through material recovery, energy recovery, and material conversion. This use is by no means limited to one model, but rather governance is based on the specific conditions of the region and the application of different technologies.
Reprinted from: Packaging Industry Network