Exploring Green Packaging and Its Problems (I)

Green packaging is a good wish of the majority of consumers and has become one of the most frequently discussed fashion topics. However, due to the lack of a clear definition of green packaging so far, the concept of green packaging in many people's minds is still rather vague: packaging is harmless to the human body, is a green packaging; packaging is environmentally friendly, green packaging; packaging can save resources It is a green package... It's true that the benevolent people see it, and the wise see wisdom. Although all the above teaching methods have certain truths, they are all one-sided. Strictly speaking, they are inaccurate. If we do not have a more unified and complete understanding of green packaging, it will be very unfavorable to promote green packaging. On the basis of understanding and synthesizing the arguments of many experts and scholars, the author puts forward some opinions on green packaging and introspects them in order to arouse more attention on green packaging and gradually reach a consensus on the issue of “green packaging”. consensus.

First, what is the green packaging

The author believes that the more desirable definition of green packaging should be: "Packaging that is conducive to sustainable human development is green packaging."

The basic content of green packaging.

According to the view of "sustainable human development," the ideal green packaging should have the following three basic conditions besides the general attributes of packaging (protecting goods, facilitating storage and transportation, and promoting sales): safety, hygiene and environment Protect and conserve resources.

Health and Safety

Safety and health means that the packaging materials used must not cause harm to humans and livestock and meet the requirements of relevant hygienic standards. Different commodities have different requirements for the safety and health performance of packaging materials; they are of special significance for products such as foods and medicines.

Environmental protection

Environmental protection refers to the adaptability of packaging to environmental protection, that is, packaging materials and their production processes must be compatible with the needs of environmental protection. The requirements for packaging materials from the beginning of the acquisition of raw materials, to the production, processing and use of packaging materials, and the disposal of waste after use, all have good adaptability to environmental protection and do not harm the environment.

save resources

Saving resources mainly means saving materials and energy, and at a deep level, there are also problems of saving human resources. If safety and health are indispensable for the protection of the health of the present generation, then environmental protection and conservation of resources are even more necessary measures to benefit the present and benefit the children and grandchildren.

Therefore, a package with the above three basic conditions, it is the ideal green packaging; on the contrary if it does not have or do not fully meet these three basic conditions, it can not be called green packaging.

Green packaging evaluation method.

Taking the three rules of safety and health, environmental protection, and resource conservation as standards, applying the method of "life cycle analysis" to consider is an objective and scientific method for evaluating green packaging.

The so-called "life cycle analysis" starts with the acquisition of raw materials for packaging materials, the "life cycle of the entire life cycle" of the production and processing of packaging materials, and the disposal of wastes after use. Only the packaging that meets the basic requirements of safety and health, environmental protection, and resource conservation at all stages of the “life cycle” is the green packaging that we advocate. In the whole life cycle process, a certain process or stages, If it does not meet the requirements of green packaging, it cannot be called a green packaging material; it must adopt effective measures to eliminate the problems existing in the links that do not meet the requirements of green packaging, that is, do a good job of “greening” before it can be transformed into For green packaging materials.

Second, the necessity of "greening" packaging materials

The development of green packaging is the need to ensure safety and health and safeguard people's health.

Food and pharmaceutical products use a variety of packaging in large quantities, and many foods and medicines are also in direct contact with packaging materials if the packaging does not meet the requirements of hygienic regulations. Even if foods and medicines are strictly controlled in terms of formulation, production processes, etc., these products will cause harm to human bodies due to the contamination of packaging. Therefore, we must attach great importance to the safety and hygienic properties of packaging materials.

The development of green packaging is the need to protect the natural environment and stabilize the development of the national economy.

The natural environment is a necessary condition for us to survive. With the continuous development of science and technology, human influence on the natural world is increasing day by day. On the one hand, people's ability to develop and use natural resources is constantly increasing. At the same time, the negative impact that human activities may have on the natural world and on human beings is also increasing. Some of these negative effects cannot be eliminated at all or even in the short term. Therefore, we must pay more attention to environmental protection, safety and health, and attention to resource conservation. China once mishandled the disposal of plastic packaging materials and other wastes, resulting in “white pollution” and serious pollution of industrial wastewater by rivers and rivers, which has brought great harm to socialist construction. We should learn profound lessons from it and vigorously carry out green packaging work to prevent the packaging from repeating the same mistakes during its entire life cycle, causing harm to the environment.

Developing green packaging is the need to participate in international market competition and break down trade barriers.

After we join the WTO, the trade barriers between countries will gradually decrease, and the so-called “national treatment” promoted by the market economy will be replaced. However, in order to protect their own domestic market, industrial advanced countries do not conveniently use means such as raising tariffs, and often pass technical thresholds such as green packaging standards to restrict the entry of our products. In order to meet the export demand of China's merchandise exports, we must also vigorously develop the green packaging industry to deal with "trade barriers" and meet the needs of China's foreign trade.

Developing green packaging is a need to conserve resources and ensure the socialist construction in our country.

Saving resources not only has universal significance for the sustainable development of human beings, but it is of even greater significance for China, which has the largest population and relatively few resources in the world.

(to be continued)