Relevant information shows that at present, the annual output of plastic packaging in China is more than 2.5 million tons, among which disposable plastic packaging, which is difficult to recycle, accounts for 30%. According to other statistics, China produces about 17 million tons of waste each year, and the annual volume of plastic packaging products is as much as 1 million tons, of which plastic packaging boxes and cup trays are mainly used. Foam materials, beverage bottles, various kinds of candy and food plastic outer packaging, and various plastic bags. Taking Beijing as an example, the total amount of garbage to be disposed of each year is nearly 6 million tons, and the packaging waste is about 1.5 million tons. Among the daily garbage disposal, only fast food boxes and plastic bags account for nearly 1,000 tons. A large amount of rubbish was transported to the outskirts of the city and occupied over 50,000 hectares of land. The tide of environmental protection and green packaging is rising all over the world. People are gradually realizing how important it is to control environmental pollution on the sub-earth. In order to maintain the balance of ecological resources and maintain the reserves of social resources, the recycling of packaging waste is imminent.
The origin and definition of green packaging
As early as the 1970s, Germany took the lead in launching a “green packaging†with a “green dot†(green pattern for product packaging) logo. In the following decades, green packaging quickly developed around the world. In 1987, the so-called “green packaging†issued by the UN Environment and Development Committee referred to the packaging that did not cause pollution to the ecological environment, did not cause any harm to human health, could be recycled, recycled, and used for sustainable development. In other words, packaging products are selected from raw materials and manufactured. The entire process of use, recycling and disposal should meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection. It includes saving resources. Energy, avoiding waste generation, easy recycling, recycling, incineration or degradability, etc. Environmentally friendly, “3R1D†(day educe reduction, Reuse reuse, Recycle recycling, and Degradable degradable) in principle.
Green Packaging Labels and Regulations
In 1975, the world's first green packaged "green" logo (a circular pattern consisting of green and white arrows) - "Green Point" was introduced in Germany. The “green dots†double-colored arrows indicate that the product or packaging is green and can be recycled and used, meeting the requirements of ecological balance and environmental protection. In 1977, the German government launched the “Blue Sky†green environmental protection label, which was granted to those products (including packaging) that have green characteristics. Since then, many countries have also begun to use the environmental labeling of product packaging. Such as Canada's "Maple Leaf Logo", Japan's "Love the Earth", the United States' "natural friendship", the European Community's "European Flower", Denmark. White Swans of Finland, Sweden, Norway and other Nordic countries, Singapore's "green logo", New Zealand's "environmental choice" and Portugal's "ecological products". All products marked with the "Green Mark" indicate that the product meets the requirements of environmental protection from production to use until the final consumption recovery. In developed countries, it is generally stipulated that a commodity can enter the country’s market only after it has obtained the “green logo†of the country, or it is prohibited from entering the country.
In 1981, the Danish government first introduced Germany's positive response to the European Community in view of the adverse impact of the increase in empty containers for beverage containers. In 1991, it passed the German Packaging Act, and subsequently promulgated the "Circular Economy". The Waste Management Act stipulates that commodity producers and distributors recycle packaging waste, requiring containers and packaging to be labeled with green signs. The green label usage fee depends on the degree of ease of recycling and utilization of packaging waste.
Austria introduced the "Packaging Regulations" in 1992 and later released the "Policy Objectives Regulations" to supplement them, requiring producers and sellers to receive and collect transportation packaging, used packaging and sales packaging free of charge, and require 80% recovery. Packaging resources are recycled and recycled.
In 1993, France enacted the "Regulations on Packaging", which required that the amount of household waste disposed of by landfill be reduced. The Transport Packaging Regulations were enacted in 1994, which clearly stipulates that except for household packaging, the final user of all packaging should separate the product from the packaging and recycle it by the company and the retailer.
Belgium passed the "National Ecological Law" in 1993, and also established an ecological tax, which stipulates that paper packaging and reusable packaging can be tax-free, and other materials must be taxed.
In order to promote the development of green packaging, the British government has not only enacted the "Regulations on Packaging Wastes," but also has formed a "producer responsibility industrial group" of 28 companies in the packaging and food industries to promote the collection and reuse of packaging waste throughout the country. Processing system.
As a powerful economic power in the world, the United States has early noticed the dangers of packaging waste. The states have formulated relevant policies and regulations. In 1993, the California government formulated the "System for the Redemption of Beverage Containers", which stipulates that all hard plastic containers must be recycled and reused in accordance with the requirements of the reduction of 10% of the raw materials proposed in 1991, or must contain 25% of the recyclable substances. The state government of Florida actively promotes the Waste Disposal Prepayment Act (AFD), which deals with the cost of packaging waste to consumers of free choice of products in order to encourage packaging container manufacturers to recycle and support the implementation of the law. The AFD law stipulates that taxes can be applied for exemption of waste as long as it reaches a certain level of recycling. For example, according to various data released by the US Environmental Protection Agency (DFP), containers with a recovery rate of more than 50% can be exempted from pre-payment to encourage All producers guarantee that at least half of their products can be recycled.
Application Status of Green Packaging in China
As the export commodities must adopt green packaging and the rise of domestic environmental protection undertakings and government support, China's green packaging industry is developing rapidly. The use of environmentally-friendly packaging materials is increasing, market share is gradually increasing, technology content is also increasing, some products have reached the international advanced level, have a better market in the international market, the market of the green packaging industry is constantly expand. However, compared with developed countries, China's green packaging industry still lags far behind, and development is not fast enough. Specifically in the following aspects.
1. The concept of green packaging is ambiguous. In many people's minds, green packaging is often regarded as greening of packaging products. It is erroneously regarded packaging products made from easily degradable materials as green packaging, regardless of whether the production of packaging products has caused environmental problems. Pollution and waste of resources, no matter whether packaging products can be reused after use. If the paper packaging is regarded as a green packaging, the plastic packaging is placed on the opposite side of the green packaging, and even the polyethylene is considered to be toxic, and paper-based plastic molding should be fully implemented. In fact, we should consider the impact of packaging on the environment from the product's entire life cycle. For example, improper recycling of paper packaging does not meet the requirements of green packaging, and plastic packaging should be promoted if it is reduced, recycled, and harmless. Plastics have the advantage that other packaging materials cannot be replaced, and a total ban on plastics will cause greater pollution. China's forest resources are limited, and the pollution caused by papermaking is also difficult to control. Therefore, it is neither realistic nor environmentally friendly to fully implement paper-based modeling.
2. Unbalanced Development First of all, the time for different companies to implement green packaging is not synchronized. The earliest implementation of green packaging was export-oriented enterprises. Such enterprises were affected by the international market and learned about green packaging earlier. They quickly adjusted their packaging strategy; while those with a domestic market focused on green packaging. The response was slow, and it only started to get involved in green packaging in recent years. Secondly, the development between regions is uneven, 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 also inconsistent, resulting in the transfer of packaging pollution to economically underdeveloped areas.
3. Insufficient investment in capital, technology, talents, etc. Due to the adoption of advanced technology and limited by the scale of production of companies, 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.
4. The lack of green consumption The packaging industry can embark on the sustainable development of the green packaging road depends on the regulation and guidance of the market, and China's green consumption started late, far from becoming people's consumption habits. In the country's major cities, small and medium-sized cities and rural market towns are still "white" hard to ban, "green" is difficult to rise. At present, the annual output of domestic green tableware is about 6 billion, of which 80% of the products are exported, mainly to Japan, the United States, Singapore, etc. Another 20% of the domestic sales for the iron and shipping systems, in the fast food industry is difficult to promote. Due to the shortage of export supply, and the serious shortage of domestic market demand (consumption), many green packaging companies only care about the foreign market and ignore the domestic market.
The Strategy of Developing Green Packaging in China
The development of green packaging is not only to reduce "white pollution", in essence, it is to improve human life. Major events to safeguard human health and promote ecological balance. The government and the broad masses of the people should join hands to promote the development of green packaging from the following aspects.
1. The state should provide support from policies and funds as a green packaging industry in emerging industries. It has just begun to emerge in China. Most products have not yet become large-scale production. They cannot meet the green consumption demands of consumers in terms of quantity and quality, and they have not formed a brand effect. . At present, relevant government departments should seize the opportunity, adjust the economic structure, actively promote the merger and reorganization of enterprises, promote the rational allocation of resources, realize the large-scale production of green packaging, increase the development of green packaging from the structure and total amount, and strive to meet the market. Increasing demand for green consumption. The government must increase incentives for green packaging manufacturers to provide policy tilts in project approval, market access, taxation, and credit. Such as the reduction of taxes on green packaging products; the establishment of special funds to increase financial input to enterprises, appropriate scientific research and development costs for industry-based key scientific research and development projects; increase the credit scale of enterprises, give discount interest subsidies; for raw materials and finished products Import and export, giving preferential tariffs and quotas; support for companies listed on the stock market, to create conditions for their social investment; actively promote product green signs, establish a packaging product recycling management system and waste disposal system.
2. Actively develop and promote green packaging materials to accelerate technological innovation, develop new packaging materials, new processes and new products, which is the key to the development of green packaging. From the beginning of the packaging design selection, we should pay attention to the reduction of packaging and try to avoid excessive packaging; pay attention to the recycling of packaging, pay attention to the use of packaging materials that can be used multiple times or can be recycled; pay attention to the harmlessness of packaging, try to use harmless Materials, do not use packaging materials that are likely to cause environmental pollution; actively promote the use of alternative materials such as paper and degradable plastics; invest funds in the development of plant packaging materials; use as much as possible a single packaging material and avoid the use of adhesive methods that lead to recycling and separation. difficult.
3. Promote green consumption and create a green packaging environment as a packaging waste