The effective way to realize the green packaging of food (2)

Second, easy recycling

1, easy to recycle

Detachable, easy to compress, folded design. When designing the structure of the package, it should be considered removable, easy to compress, and easy to fold, making it easier to transport and recycle.

Ninety percent of Japan's milk is sold in crumpled paper packaging, which is a good education. Children can be exposed and used environmentally friendly "green" products from childhood. The easy-to-squash packaging not only has a lower production cost, but also can reduce the occupied space, facilitate the transportation of recycling processing, and reduce transportation costs. Japan's most common drink, Yakutt Health Drink, uses a bottom tearable cup-shaped container. After tearing the bottom, one can easily flatten the container for recycling.

Every year in Tokyo, Japan, a packaging design competition is held. An award-winning beverage package called EcoPac is widely used. The package consists of a 100% recyclable cardboard box and a bag inside the box for holding the beverage, also known as a Bagincarton/box. The main purpose is to make it easier for people to separate the carton from the bag, and it is easier to handle when it is sent to the recycling process. At present, most of the alcoholic beverages on the market in Japan use such packaging.

2, easy to separate

Use the same material as much as possible to reduce the type of material. Designing with the same material as much as possible does not limit the diversity of the packaging design, but mainly for the convenience of recycling. Recycling packaging, such as polyester bottles, can be recycled after physical and chemical methods. The physical method refers to direct and thorough purification and smashing without any residual contaminants. The treated plastics are then directly used to produce recycled packaging containers. The chemical method means that the recovered PET bottle is crushed and washed, and the depolymerization agent such as methanol water, ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol is used to depolymerize all the PET into monomers or partially depolymerize into oligomers under the action of a basic catalyst. The monomers or oligomers are then re-polymerized into recycled PET resin packaging material.

Multi-layered composite materials must be considered for ease of separation without hindering reuse. The organic coating on the surface of the aluminum beverage can be combusted during recovery melting without causing difficulty in recycling, and the composite paper and plastic packaging is difficult to separate for purification. A pure polyester coke bottle without a high-density polyethylene base has emerged on the market for easy regeneration.

Third, easy to use repeatedly

Designing packaging that can be reused over and over again, using reusable packaging materials, saves resources and reduces pollution, and should be strongly promoted.

Reusable packaging, such as beer, drinks, soy sauce, vinegar and other glass bottles, can be used repeatedly. Sweden and other countries stipulate that the number of repeated use of polyester PET beverage bottles and PC milk bottles exceeds 20 times; the Dutch Wellam Company and the US Johnson Company both recycle 100% of PET bottles; Japanese Asahi, Sapporo and other beer companies have developed a Longevity beer bottle, 10% stronger than the original beer bottle, the average life expectancy can be doubled. In the United States and Japan, the recycling of packaging materials has become industrialized and commercialized.

Fourth, the green process of manufacturing

Green packaging considers the environmental impact of packaging from the entire life cycle of the product. Paper packaging does not meet the requirements of green packaging if it is improperly recycled, and plastic packaging, if it achieves the goals of reduction and recycling, is promoted by green packaging. In many people's minds, green packaging is often regarded as one-sided understanding of the greenness of packaging products, and erroneously treating packaging products made from easily degradable materials as green packaging, regardless of whether the production of such packaging products causes environmental pollution and The waste of resources and the reuse of packaged products after use have led to some misunderstandings about green packaging.

At present, China's printing industry is mainly using solvent-based inks, of which VOC (organic volatile matter) emissions, some inorganic pigments contain lead, chromium, copper, mercury and other heavy metals, have a certain toxicity, can not be used for printing Food Packaging and Children's toys; some organic pigments contain biphenyl gum, which is carcinogenic. In Europe, the situation of gravure printing materials is very different. For example, gravure printing and decorative printing are almost 100% water-based inks, and water-based or alcohol-based inks are basically used in package gravure, and mixed solvents are not used at all, and recycling is easy. The proportion of solvent-free compounding reached nearly 90%. Therefore, the environmental issue of the gravure printing process has been almost completely resolved. Therefore, our country’s improvement work in this area must be accelerated.

Fifth, try to simplify the package

Moderately packaged green food, and actively promote "no packaging", "minus packaging" and partial packaging. Developed countries have imposed restrictive standards on packaging since the 1980s and adopted a series of laws and regulations. The United States promulgated the "Packaging and Packaging Waste Restriction Law." Japan promulgated the "Commodity Gift Box Packaging Appropriation Outline", and some countries clearly stipulate that the packaging cost should be controlled within 15% of the price of the goods.

1, to do appropriate packaging

Excessive packaging causes waste of resources and also causes unnecessary environmental pollution. Some developed countries are advocating proper packaging and have introduced some regulations in succession. For example, in the United States, the degree of complexity of product packaging has been regulated in a certain proportion, and if excessive packaging exceeds the requirements, heavy penalties are imposed, forcing manufacturers to simplify packaging.

Japan has newly designed a vertical bag package. The opening of the bag is specially designed to facilitate opening. This kind of bag is mainly used to replace plastic bottles. The amount of plastic used is only one-fifth that of the latter. In addition to beverages, many of the edible oils sold in Japan are sold in composite paper packaging, which greatly reduces the use of plastics.

2, give up the package

Japanese experts suggest that many foods can completely abandon packaging. Taking vegetables and fruits as an example, a survey conducted by the Japan Chain Stores Association showed that 90% of vegetables and fruits do not require sales packaging. If it is the need for packaging, special plastic wrap should also be used to prevent moisture from penetrating into it. If moisture is infiltrated into the packaging, it will speed up the spoilage of vegetables and fruits, causing unnecessary waste and harm to the body.

Due to the adoption of advanced technology and limited by the production scale of enterprises, green food packaging products are often more expensive than traditional packaging products, and therefore do not have price advantage when competing with traditional packaging products. This has directly led to the disadvantages of green food packaging products in the market competition, which has affected the confidence of enterprises in developing green packaging.

At present, many important aspects of China's green food packaging, such as the reduction of packaging materials, recycling and recycling of packaging waste, have failed to receive corresponding attention. The related green packaging industry is also underdeveloped, especially The recycling industry for packaging waste is still lagging behind. Green food packaging is supported by high technology. Due to the lack of investment in and research on green packaging technology, China's overall level of technology is still lagging although it has an international leading level in some products. Whether the packaging industry can embark on the sustainable development of the green packaging road depends on the regulation and guidance of the market, there is still much work to be done to develop China's green food packaging.

Source: "China Food Industry" 2006 No. 3 Author / Geng Liping