How Packaging Industry Develops Circular Economy (II)

2. The problem of excessive packaging is very prominent

According to media reports, during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, some manufacturers used moonwood and rare wood such as rosewood and sandalwood to make mooncake packaging. The degree of luxury in its packaging is evident! Excessive packaging even caused dissatisfaction in the society. Some media reported that Chongqing’s college students organized various boycotts last year and agreed not to buy gorgeous moon cakes to oppose excessive packaging.

As businesses blindly chase the wind, there is no shortage of over-packaged goods. Prone to over-packaging are generally lifestyle luxury goods, such as valuable medicinal materials, cigarettes and wine, electronic products, jewelry and cosmetics, gifts and moon cakes. Because ordinary goods may be beautifully packaged, they are not particularly luxurious. In a sense, over-packaging is a reflection of social unhealthy trends in packaging. Excessively packaged goods only increase the cost of goods and increase the economic burden on consumers. Over time, most consumers will stop and eventually block the sales of goods. Excessive packaging, but no real quality content, it is difficult to cultivate repeat customers. Can make one-off transactions; waste of resources, resulting in a lot of useless garbage, it is annoying.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, more than 6 million moon cake boxes were processed by the Guangzhou Sanitation Department. Apart from being recycled as waste, some 70% of the cake boxes were eventually disposed of as household waste. There are more than 3 million moon cake boxes thrown out in Hainan each year, and the amount of scrap iron, waste wood, and backing paper produced in this category is as much as 700 tons. According to statistics, the average annual production of shirts is 1.2 billion pieces, and the amount of paper used in the packaging box is 240,000 tons, which is equivalent to cutting off 1.68 million thick trees. The carton used for packing shirts is just a drop in the ocean. If you count the amount of paper used for packing all goods and the trees to be felled, this is undoubtedly an astonishing figure. The plastic products used for packaging need more than 200 years to be absorbed by the soil. These chemical wastes cause serious environmental pollution.

At the symposium on proposals for consultations held this year by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Zhou Changyi, deputy director of the Department of Comprehensive Utilization of Environment and Resources of the National Development and Reform Commission, disclosed that Ma Kai, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, had already instructed his subordinates to issue policies before the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, and to increase over-packing of moon cakes. Management efforts. The Price Division of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Department of Integrated Utilization of Resources and Resources are studying countermeasures to deal with excessive packaging. The government may require that the price of moon cake packaging must not exceed a certain percentage of the total price of mooncakes.

III. It is very important to improve relevant laws and regulations

As early as 1972, Germany established an end treatment method for waste discharge. In 1986, the Waste Disposal and Waste Treatment Law was promulgated. The direction of development was increased from the viewpoint of “how to dispose of wastes” to “How to avoid wastes. Produced." In 1991, the “Regulations on Packaging” was adopted, which required that the recycling of various types of packaging be stipulated as national obligations. In 1996, a new "Circular Economy and Waste Management Law" was proposed to raise waste disposal to the point of developing a circular economy and establish a system of supporting laws and regulations. At present, the German government is embarking on the third edition of the "Regulations on Packaging" and plans to impose a 25 Euro bottle-cutting fee on all disposable beverages. After 13 years of packaging regulations, the basic principle has not changed: first try to avoid the generation of packaging waste, once the packaging of garbage can not be avoided, give priority to the reuse, especially the use of materials, and then consider the use of energy and the removal of innocuous . According to different uses, Germany generally divides the packaging into transport packages that are protected from damage during the transport of the product, sales packages that contain and protect the goods, and decorative packaging. In this regard, the "Regulations on Packaging" made specific provisions on the recycling of various types of packaging and on the obligations of manufacturers and distributors. Since the introduction of the regulations, the annual packaging consumption has been reduced by 1.4 million tons. The effective mechanism of this regulation has promoted the continuous improvement of the recycling rate of packaging materials in Germany. In 2003, Germany recovered 5.99 million tons of packaging materials and 72.6 kilograms per capita.

In order to reduce the waste of packaging and the pollution to the environment, Finland’s relevant laws clearly stipulate the re-use of packaging and packaging of goods. According to Finland’s relevant laws and regulations, Finnish manufacturers should try to limit the volume and weight of packaging to the minimum when packaging products. However, product packaging must meet safety and hygiene standards and be accessible to ordinary consumers. Acceptance; In the design and production process of commodity packaging, the recycling and reuse of packaging must be considered, and the adverse impact on the environment must be minimized; in the process of packaging, packaging materials must be completed. It may contain less harmful substances so that it will not harm the environment when it is disposed of. In Finland, manufacturers produce goods in strict accordance with the law. The cost of packaging generally accounts for only 2% to 10% of the value of goods. Among them, cosmetics and food packaging costs are relatively high, but the packaging cost is only about 5% of the total value of the product. In September 2004, Finland amended the "Law on Waste" to increase the reuse rate of packaging waste while reducing packaging waste.

In 1992, the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea introduced the Waste Prepayment System, which stipulated that manufacturers should prepay some funds according to the quantity of product packaging such as metal cans, glass bottles, cartons, etc., according to their recycling of packaging waste. Proportional refund of advance payment. In 2000, the Ministry of Environment of Korea tried a method of signing an agreement with the environmental protection department and a production company to reduce waste emissions and prepare for the implementation of a system in which producers are responsible for recycling waste. In January 2003, the Korean government formally began implementing the "System of Responsibility for Producer Reuse." Prior to the implementation of this system, producers and operators would selectively reuse the packaging wastes, that is, only the wastes that are easy to recycle should be recycled, and wastes that are not easily recycled should be buried or destroyed as waste. The implementation of the "Responsibility System for Producer Responsibility" is to add the responsibility for the recycling of packaging waste to the producers, who are responsible for the recycling of packaging wastes such as synthetic resin packaging materials, instant noodle boxes and plastic trays for internal packaging. . Since January 2004, PVC has been banned from packaging foods such as eggs, fried foods, hamburgers, and sandwiches. Since January 2004, the use of foamed materials (EPS) as a shockproof packaging for products with a packaging capacity of 20,000 cubic centimeters or less has been banned for audio, imaging, and office appliances. According to relevant statistics of the Korean government, the total amount of domestic waste, including packaging waste, has decreased by about 20% since the Korean government began to adopt waste restrictions in 1993. The recycling rate of domestic waste increased from 13% in 1993 to 44%. By 2008, Korea's domestic waste recycling rate will increase to 50%.

In China's current laws and regulations, there is currently no legal document that specifically deals with "white pollution" and packaging waste. For example, in the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution," although the provisions on solid waste also apply to the prevention and control of "white pollution", due to the wide variety of types and extensions of solid waste, and in the chapter "Legal Liability," There is no single clause that clearly stipulates that sanctions against the “white pollution” and its consequences should be imposed, thus lacking the specificity of “white pollution” prevention and control. Another example is the Regulations on the Management of Urban Appearance and Environmental Sanitation promulgated by the State Council. The emphasis is on the regulation of domestic waste. Although “white waste” is part of domestic waste, the treatment of domestic waste cannot be fully applied to “white waste”. "Control. Because the former focuses on "processing", while the latter should focus on "recycling."

On April 1, 2004, the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste" will be formally implemented. The law clearly stipulates that the design and manufacture of products and packaging should comply with the state's provisions on clean production. Enterprises that produce, sell, and import products and packaging products that are legally listed in the compulsory recycling catalog must be allowed to recycle the products and packaging according to the relevant state regulations. The Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste points out that the State encourages scientific research and production units to research and manufacture thin film coverings and commodity packaging that are easy to recycle, easy to handle, or degradable in the environment. Ni Yuefeng, deputy of the National People's Congress of Zhejiang delegation, suggested that the State Council and relevant departments should formulate regulations on packaging management in accordance with the Clean Production Promotion Law and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste, strengthen the management and guidance of the packaging industry, and reduce resources caused by excessive packaging of goods. Waste and pollution to the environment.

IV. Suggestions for Developing Circular Economy

1, promote the recycling of packaging waste

The development of circular economy requires consumers to develop consumption habits that are conducive to the recycling of packaging waste. The environmental protection department shall set up classified bins in parks, streets, and residential quarters to guide people to consciously sort and recycle the packaging wastes. Promote and support the community to initiate “green shopping” activities, go out to purchase goods, try to bring their own shopping bags, and reduce the use of “use or throw” packaging products, such as disposable plastic lunch boxes, plastic bags, paper cups, etc., to encourage people to use repeatable Used and recycled packaging containers.

Recently, good news came from Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, and Shenzhen. With the support of Tetra Pak, an emerging waste composite paper packaging recycling industry chain is gradually forming from south to north. Recycling companies rely on advanced recycling. Technology can make full use of waste paper packaging and turn it into many daily necessities. Shanghai Caile Environmental Products Co., Ltd. cooperates with Tetra Pak to develop and produce waste paper, outdoor flooring, desks and chairs, industrial trays and Other recycled products. The composite paper packaging used for milk and soft drinks is composed of paper, plastic, aluminum and other multi-layer materials. For example, Tetra Pak packaging contains more than 70% of long fiber pulp and 20% of plastic, which was difficult to separate due to technical reasons in the past. Pulp recycled, and therefore can only be garbage when it is burned or landfilled. Recently, China has a new recycling equipment, which can effectively separate the various materials of composite paper packaging, thereby producing pulp and plastic particles, turning waste into treasure, so that Yili company's main production plant's renewable utilization rate reached 100%. Beijing has investors and more than 300 waste collection stations negotiated recovery issues, will carry out the recycling of composite paper packaging in 7 communities.

2. Promote the promotion and application of "environmental protection signs"

Germany took the lead in promoting ecological packaging and using green signs. Subsequently, the European Union, the United States, Japan, and Canada also followed suit. The “Environmental Protection Mark” is a green mark in international standards. WTO rules show that any product that obtains the “Environmental Protection Mark” can enter the international market. The European Union has recently reiterated that the product packaging must have the principle of “Environmental Protection Marking”. Driven by the trend of green consumption, people will no longer only pay attention to whether the quality of the goods is qualified or whether the packaging is exquisite when they purchase merchandise. Instead, they are more concerned about whether the products meet the requirements of environmental protection and whether there are green signs on the packaging. Consumers are privileged to make a contribution to the environmental protection business by buying products with a green logo. As consumer demand for ecological packaging is relatively strong, manufacturers of goods will proceed from their own economic interests and will also have to take into account the environmental factors of product packaging, take the initiative to adopt ecological packaging, and implement green marketing to cater to consumers. The psychology promotes the sale of goods.

3, develop high-tech packaging materials

Plastic packaging materials, on the basis of satisfying the market's packaging quality and efficiency requirements, should be a new target for technological development to save resources, be easy to recycle after use, or be easily degraded by the environment. From a worldwide perspective, plastic packaging materials are developing in the direction of high performance, multi-functionality, and environmental compliance. High-barrier plastic packaging materials, that is, packaging materials that enable the packaged articles to be free from external influences and deteriorating, are gradually being expanded to non-food packaging fields, such as industrial packaging, pharmaceutical packaging, and more. Building materials packaging, marine supplies packaging and so on. New plastic packaging materials are struggling to improve their degradability, allowing them to degrade in a short time after use. At present, there are biodegradable plastics, photodegradable plastics, and photo-biodegradable plastics. The biodegradable plastics have the fastest practical process, such as starch degradable plastics, which are known to many people.

Author/Yan Liping Source: Chinese Packaging