Sustainable packaging: current situation, opportunities and challenges
Packaging plays a key role in modern lifestyles. Without packaging, most products would expire or be damaged before reaching the store. With the rapid development of the economy, human demand for natural resources has reached unprecedented heights, and the use of packaging has also increased dramatically. Global environmental and health problems caused by human activities, such as climate change, waste pollution, epidemics, etc., have sounded the alarm for mankind. Because 80% of packaging is discarded after one-time use, the amount of waste is very large, and packaging waste has become an urgent environmental problem that needs to be solved. Sustainable packaging is on the agenda of brand owners, packaging manufacturers, retailers, consumers, policymakers, etc. Developed countries in Europe and the United States have begun to legislate to promote the sustainable development of packaging. Consumers' environmental awareness is gradually increasing. While enjoying the convenience brought by packaging, they also try to minimize the negative impact of packaging on the environment.
Among many packaging materials, plastic packaging is widely used, accounting for about 30% of the entire plastics industry. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of plastics. In 2018, China's plastic production accounted for one-third of the world's total production. In 2019, China's plastic product output was 81.842 million tons, mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, accounting for about 40% of the total. Due to imperfect recycling systems and unreasonable packaging materials and designs, most packaging is not recycled. According to statistics, only 9% of plastic products produced in the world are recycled. Ordinary plastic that has not been recycled takes about 200 years to be naturally degraded. During this period, it causes great pollution to land and water bodies and becomes one of the recognized environmental risks. Due to the long industrial chain of plastic packaging and the wide and scattered terminal application areas, even though my country has established a series of policies, plans and overall goals for plastic packaging and renewable resource recycling, it still lacks specific regulations and production for plastic packaging recycling. The implementation effect of the extension of responsibility system is not satisfactory. Despite this, sustainable packaging is still an inevitable trend for the future development of the packaging industry. Under the global trend of sustainable development, sustainable packaging is also an opportunity for many companies in the packaging industry chain.
Since the reform and opening up, the Yangtze River Delta region has always been the region with the most vitality, the greatest growth potential, and the strongest technological leadership in China's economic growth. Regardless of whether it is measured in terms of economic scale, population quantity and quality, scientific and technological development level, or institutional factors such as marketization and internationalization, the Yangtze River Delta has become a locomotive driving the steady progress of China's economy. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the economic development of the Yangtze River Delta has begun to face many challenges, among which resource shortage and environmental pollution have become important factors affecting the sustainable development of the Yangtze River Delta.
1. What is sustainable packaging? The concept of sustainable development was proposed in 1987 by the Brundtland Report "Our Common Future" of the World Commission on Environment and Development. The Brundtland Report defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainable packaging was first defined as a result of stakeholder research supported by the Australian Sustainable Packaging Alliance (SPA), which was established to promote sustainable packaging and its development through scientific tools and strategies for the packaging industry. implementation. The SPA aims to promote the development of a sustainable packaging strategy suitable for Australia by working with key stakeholders. Another definition of sustainable packaging that is widely accepted is that of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC). SPC is a stakeholder-based organization that envisions “all packaging being responsibly sourced, remaining effective and safe throughout its life cycle, meeting market standards for performance and cost, and using entirely renewable energy manufactured and, once used, can be efficiently recycled, providing a valuable resource for future generations” (SPC 2011). Sustainable packaging involves many aspects of environmental issues, such as biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution management, soil pollution, etc., and covers the entire value chain of packaging, from raw material suppliers to packaging producers and processors, retailers , consumers and their end-of-life treatment processes. For food, beverage and pharmaceutical products, this also includes packaging effectiveness, safety, etc. In fact, packaging itself makes an important contribution to sustainable development. Packaging allows food to be preserved for longer, greatly reducing food waste and damage during transportation and storage. (1) It is beneficial, safe and healthy to individuals and society throughout its life cycle Sustainable development includes three major aspects: economic gain, social equality and environmental benefits. In addition to economics, packaging should have as little negative impact on the environment and society as possible from raw material procurement, production, transportation to disposal. The emergence of corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting also reflects concerns about corporate citizenship, integrity and transparency. For example, companies creating economically viable closed-loop systems for packaging recycling, equal employment, and providing a safe working environment for employees are all practices that are beneficial to the environment and society. (2) Meet market standards in performance and cost Sustained profitability is one of the fundamental elements of sustainable business practices. Sustainable packaging needs to be designed to be as efficient and safe as possible, thereby minimizing the cost of the entire packaging system. Packaging costs are becoming increasingly complex as producers bear an increasing number of indirect costs, such as the social costs of waste disposal and the environmental costs of emissions. These costs are becoming increasingly high as regulations, taxes and regulations continue to change. Therefore, the comprehensive cost of the packaging system must be fully considered in packaging design. (3) Procurement, manufacturing, transportation and recycling of renewable energy Today, most packaging materials and processes rely primarily on petroleum-based energy. Switching from petroleum fuels to renewable energy across the entire packaging value chain will require changes in many aspects and will also depend on the availability of renewable energy in local markets and countries. energy policy and therefore cannot be achieved in a short time. In 2019, China set the goal of "strive to achieve carbon peaking before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060", and on October 24, 2021, it issued the "On Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept to Do a Good Job in Carbon Peaking". "Opinions on Neutralization Work", making comprehensive arrangements to ensure that carbon peaks and carbon neutrality are achieved as scheduled. All sectors of society take positive actions to achieve this goal, which will inevitably accelerate the supply and use of renewable energy. (4) Use renewable and recycled materials as much as possible Using recycled or responsibly sourced bio-based materials can reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources (such as oil), ensuring that future generations will have enough to survive. In addition, recycled or renewable materials often produce less carbon emissions during the material acquisition process than virgin materials, mitigating climate change. (5) Processing and manufacturing using cleaner production technologies and best practices Cleaner production adopts environmentally friendly practices and technologies to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing processes, including the use and emission of toxic substances. It represents environmentally responsible practice and is applicable to any industrial activity, including packaging production. (6) The materials used are harmless to human health throughout the life cycle Packaging may contain certain chemicals that can release harmful chemicals during its life cycle. These chemicals are typically used in small doses, but when combined in large amounts of packaging and its waste, they can cause significant harm. Ensuring that all ingredients, including additives, inks, glues and coatings, are safe for humans and the environment is therefore an important aspect of sustainable packaging design. (7) Make full use of materials and energy in physical design Often when companies design packaging, their first considerations are key cost, performance, market and regulatory requirements. The sustainable development design of packaging starts with material selection, supplemented by considering the impact of the material throughout its life cycle. This includes: energy use during the packaging life cycle, material impacts during waste disposal, and suitability of packaging design for material recovery equipment. In addition, consumer industry habits and recycling system development trends should also be considered during the design stage. (8) Can be effectively recycled and utilized in biological and/or industrial closed-loop systems Effective recycling and utilization means efficient collection and restoring the value of waste materials as high as possible to make them economically viable. This requires strong collaboration upstream and downstream of the value chain to establish a healthy packaging ecosystem, including advocating packaging design that is conducive to recycling, and working with brand owners, consumers, retailers, municipalities, etc. to develop recycling facilities. It can be seen that, unlike the SPA definition, SPC's sustainable packaging definition not only means considering its product formula, concept, shape, size, etc. at the product design level, but also considering its economic feasibility and social impact. For example, compostable packaging that has not been developed using efficient materials and energy optimization and does not meet market standards and profitability cannot be considered sustainable, and promoting it as sustainable packaging will be misleading. The development of sustainable packaging requires the construction of an ecosystem throughout the industry, allowing packaging to form a benign closed-loop rigid flow. It also requires strategic transformation, technology and business model innovation by all participants and stakeholders in the packaging value chain.
Yaxinbei (Dongguan) Packaging Co., Ltd. is located in Dongguan, China, is a collection of design and research, production, import and export trade in one of the packaging materials enterprises, the main business is paper product packaging, including degradable environmentally friendly pulp mold plastics and corrugated carton color box business.
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