First, the background of the green packaging
In 1987, the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development issued the Declaration of Our Common Future. In June 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21, worldwide. A green wave centered on protecting the environment and saving resources has been set off. The green wave or the green revolution is a declaration of war on environmental pollution and resource destruction, and it calls for the creation of a group behavior that is clean, fresh, and returns to nature's ecological environment. At one time, “green foodâ€, “green refrigeratorâ€, “green carâ€, “green building materialsâ€, “green clothing†advocating nature and protecting the environment, “green marketâ€, “green industryâ€, and “green city†emerged one after another. The formation of an overwhelming torrent. Most of the packaging is a one-time consumer goods, short life cycle, large amount of waste emissions. According to statistics, more than 45 billion tons of garbage are produced every year in the world. Among them, China produces about 600 million tons of industrial solid waste and 100 million tons of municipal waste each year, of which the annual amount of packaging waste accounts for about 15-20% of the city's fixed waste in terms of weight, and 25% in volume. -30%, and emissions increase at a rate of 10% per year, which makes the pollution of packaging waste to the environment and the waste of resources become increasingly prominent (only China's annual value of unused waste is up to more than 300 billion yuan), causing The world’s public and environmental protection community attaches great importance. The environmental protection circles of the United States and other countries have put forward three opinions on reducing the pollution of packaging wastes: First, they should try to use as little or as little packaging as possible; second, they should try to recycle packaging; thirdly, they cannot be recycled and can be biodegradable, not harmful. Public environment. To this end, Germany, France, the United States, the European Community and other countries have successively formulated strict packaging waste restrictions.
Green packaging emerged as a new concept for effective solutions to packaging and the environment in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This new concept is also known abroad as "pollution-free packaging" or "environmentally friendly packaging." In 1993, China’s packaging industry collectively referred to environmentally friendly packaging as green packaging.
Second, the connotation of green packaging
From the analysis of the source of green packaging, we can see that the most important meaning of green packaging is to protect the environment, and at the same time it has the significance of resource regeneration. Specifically, it should have the following meanings:
1. Implement Rduce. Packaging should meet the requirements of protection, convenience, sales, etc., and should be used in the minimum amount.
2. The packaging should be easy to reuse or easy to recycle. Through the production of recycled products, incineration and utilization of heat energy, composting to improve soil and other measures to achieve the purpose of reuse.
3. Packaging waste can be degraded (Degradable), does not form permanent waste, and then achieve the purpose of improving the soil. Rduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Degradable are the 3R1D principles recognized by the world today for the development of green packaging.
4. Packaging materials should be non-toxic and harmless to humans and organisms. Packaging materials should not contain toxic elements, halogens, heavy metals, or their contents should be controlled below relevant standards.
5. Packaging products from the collection of raw materials, materials processing, manufacturing products, product use, recycling of waste, until the final treatment of the entire life of the product should not cause harm to the human body and the environment. The first four points should be the ideal top requirements put forward by the green packaging.
Third, the definition of green packaging and classification goals
Through the above analysis, combined with the theme of sustainable development, green packaging can be defined as: packaging that does not cause pollution to the ecological environment, does not cause harm to human health, can be recycled and recycled, and promotes sustainable development.
Green packaging is an ideal package and it takes a process to fully meet its needs. In order to enable green packaging to have both the direction of pursuit and the phased attainable goals for operation, green packaging grading standards can be formulated according to the green food grading standards.
Grade A green packaging: refers to waste that can be reused, reused or degraded, and contains moderate amounts of toxic substances within the prescribed limits.
AA grade green packaging: refers to the waste can be recycled, reused or degraded, and does not cause harm to the human body and the environment throughout the product life cycle, and contains toxic substances within a limited range of appropriate packaging.