Talking about green packaging from the use and rec

Talking about green packaging from the use and recycling of packaging materials

with the rapid development of economy and the improvement of people's consumption level, commodity packaging has become an indispensable part of its production links. Commodity packaging integrates material science, engineering technology and aesthetic design, and has become a thriving sunrise industry, marking the prosperity of social economy and trade. Commodity packaging in modern society has experienced multi-stage development and has entered a new stage of green packaging. Packaging materials, which play an important role in packaging engineering, have also evolved from traditional natural plants and ceramics to today's four major packaging materials, mainly paper, glass, plastic and metal. The dazzling commodity packaging not only gives people a pleasant visual impact, but also embodies the concept of green packaging. At the same time, the recycling and treatment of the increasing packaging waste will be directly related to the implementation of the "green packaging" system project

according to the research conclusions of world experts and scholars [1], the "green packaging" must cover two meanings: 1) the whole packaging process will not cause pollution and damage to the ecological environment and human health; 2) The packaging materials used must be renewable and sustainable development materials. According to the two conditions, packaging materials must be taken from nature and return to nature to form a real green cycle, so that in the process of the experiment, if it is not due to the deformation of the sample or reaching the yield point, the reason and elimination method of the pointer moving intermittently, backward or swinging: human beings can enjoy the wonderful feeling brought by modern exquisite commodity packaging, but also have a good living environment and lasting resource supply

green packaging originated from the proliferation of white pollution in the last century, but the treatment of white pollution is not to curb the development of the packaging industry, but to promote the rational use of the type and quantity of packaging materials, as well as the effective recycling of packaging waste

1 current situation of packaging materials in China

the most prominent feature of green packaging materials is that the materials themselves must be harmless to human body, not pollute the ecological environment, and be easy to recycle, or return to nature through environmental degradation. Creation is subtle, and there are pure natural plant packaging materials in nature. However, relying on these pure natural green packaging materials alone is far from meeting the needs of modern social and economic development for commodity packaging materials. Therefore, relying on the progress of science and technology, human beings have created a large number of synthetic green packaging materials, forming the four pillar materials of the current packaging industry: paper, metal, glass and plastic [2]

1. 1 paper

paper is derived from natural plant fibers, so it is easy to decompose naturally and is a typical green packaging material. It can be divided into two forms: flexible packaging paper and rigid cardboard. It is widely used in the packaging of industrial products such as food, fruits and vegetables, household appliances and so on, showing that paper occupies a huge share in packaging materials. With the progress of papermaking technology and printing technology, paper packaging takes the lead in the packaging of all kinds of high-end gifts and cosmetics with its elegant appearance. For example, the rare flowers packaged in parchment in the flower market are simple and elegant in their beauty, which vividly reflects the eternal charm of paper, an ancient packaging material

1. 2 glass

because of the characteristics of material structure and manufacturing technology, glass can be made into crystal clear outer packaging containers with different shapes, which has a strong function of beautifying goods. Due to the rich raw material resources and moderate price, it is widely used in the packaging of liquid products such as alcohol, condiments, perfume and chemical reagents

1. 3 metals

the metals used as packaging materials are mainly copper and aluminum, which can be made into flexible metal thin-wall or metal coating, such as cans, cans and tin foil of cigarettes, and can also be made into barrels, cans and containers that just talk about green packaging from the use and recycling of packaging materials. Metal packaging has always occupied a place in packaging materials because of its long-term protection function and the advantages of easy recycling, but due to the impact of economic performance, it cannot occupy a large number of markets

1. 4 Plastic

since the emergence of plastic, due to the rich source of raw materials, low price, light weight, high strength, good toughness and easy molding, its proportion in packaging materials has risen rapidly, and has become an important symbol of modern commodity packaging. In China, the use of plastic packaging materials accounts for 26% of the total plastic output. The forms of finished products include plastic bags, fiber woven bags and rigid molding materials, such as plastic barrels and bottles, It is used for packaging all kinds of soft drinks, food and daily necessities. Although plastic packaging is light, cheap and easy to carry, because it is a synthetic polymer material, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and so on, its waste is not easy to recycle and can not be naturally decomposed. Therefore, it was used too much in the early days when people's awareness of environmental protection was generally weak, leading to global "white pollution". Under the impact of the world green revolution, the research and use of a new generation of degradable plastics has become an irreversible trend

1. 5 degradable plastics and edible packaging materials

degradable plastics are characterized by the introduction of groups that are easy to decompose under the action of light or microorganisms with polymer synthesis technology in the chemical structure of materials, so that plastics can be decomposed in nature with the help of light or microorganisms, avoiding the pollution of a large number of discarded plastic packaging to the environment. The synthesis technology and manufacturing cost of degradable plastics are not too high. The reason that restricts its development and application is the lack of processing equipment and immature supporting technology of this material

edible packaging materials made of natural organic molecules, such as protein, amino acids, fat and cellulose, have become a global research hotspot in the current wave of green packaging because they can be eaten by people and naturally absorbed in the human body, do not cause environmental pollution, and do not need recycling. At present, it has been used to pack meat with collagen film made of animal collagen, fast food with fiber film made of chitin, and edible packaging material made of fiber film made of konjak instead of chitin. It can be expected that with the in-depth implementation of the green packaging project and the development of biotechnology, edible packaging materials will become highly competitive rising stars

2 current situation of recycling and utilization of packaging waste in China (1) the utilization of high-performance carbon fiber composites still needs several years of exploration and research and development

due to the limitations of resources, technology and economy, it is impossible to completely use pure natural or edible substances as packaging materials. At present, China is still the coexistence of four major packaging materials, so the recycling and treatment of packaging waste has become a pivotal link in green packaging engineering, It must be coordinated with the development of green packaging materials in order to solve the global problem of resource shortage and environmental pollution

the most effective way to recycle packaging waste is to classify, collect and treat waste. The recycling and treatment of packaging waste in developed countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States has been large-scale, industrialized and commercialized [4]. In contrast, at this stage, the recycling and treatment of packaging waste in China is far from forming a scale, and has not entered the stage of industrialization and science and technology. Waste recycling in many places is still limited to the spontaneous behavior of individual buyers walking through the streets and lanes. Although classified waste recycling has been implemented in some big cities, people's awareness of waste recycling and environmental protection is still weak in the majority of small and medium-sized cities and rural areas, All kinds of packaging wastes have not been effectively recycled, but have been arbitrarily discarded in rivers, lakes, mountains and fields, resulting in a great waste of resources and serious environmental pollution. Table 1 lists the comparison of the recycling of packaging waste between European and American countries and China at the end of the 20th century. From the recovery rate data of the four major packaging materials shown in the table, it can be seen that China's current recycling of waste is obviously insufficient. The recovery rate of paper is only 20%, plastic is about 10%, glass is about 20%, and the total recovery rate of metal is less than 1%. At the same time, with the rapid growth of China's economy, the output of packaging products is on the rise [3], which is bound to lead to the shortage of resources and the intensification of environmental pollution. In a sense, the lag of packaging waste recycling has become a bottleneck restricting the development of China's green packaging industry

Table 1 Comparison of the recovery rate of packaging waste in the world at the end of the 20th century

national recovery rate paper glass plastic metal (taking aluminum cans as an example)

China 20% 20% 10% less than 10%

the United States 60% - 50% 75% more

Western Europe 30 5% 60% (Germany) -

Japan 80% 50% 28% 40%

3 countermeasures and measures

3 1. Establish professional recycling and treatment companies, and increase the recycling and treatment of all kinds of packaging products

in view of the current situation that the recycling and treatment of packaging waste in China is extremely non-standard, it is necessary to establish a professional recycling and treatment company in the charge of specialized agencies, and use advanced equipment and technology to recycle and treat all kinds of packaging waste respectively, forming a virtuous cycle of recycling, treatment and recycling and one-stop services

China is a country lacking in forest resources. 5. Below other problems related to hydraulic universal experimental machines, the recovery rate of paper products is low, and the demand for paper raw materials is increasing every year. Long term deforestation as paper raw materials will lead to a crisis in resources and ecological balance. In fact, although paper products are in great demand, they are relatively easy to recycle. After several steps of preliminary classification, fragmentation, deinking and ink cleaning and separation, they can be used as pulp for papermaking, which can save limited forest resources. The key to the reuse of this resource is the effective recycling of paper packaging

plastic products can better meet the national conditions and economic needs of developing countries because their cost performance is far better than other materials, so they occupy a huge share in packaging products, but the low recovery rate will cause serious environmental pollution. At present, only a small number of rigid plastic packaging containers are sold to waste purchase stations, and the plastic bags with the largest consumption are discarded at will. Although the country promotes the use of degradable plastic bags in large supermarkets, However, in the vegetable market, vendors are still generally using non degradable ordinary plastic bags for personal economic interests. Due to the large amount of plastic packaging products and the complex recycling process, it is difficult to effectively improve the recycling rate if standardized waste classification management is not implemented

glass has irreplaceable advantages in the packaging of liquid products, so it is very important to recycle it. It can be recycled after cleaning and disinfection, returned to the furnace for melting and recycling, and directly reprocessed for other purposes, which not only shortens the production cycle, but also saves a lot of money and power consumption. However, in addition to the high recovery rate of glass products in some advanced countries, many countries, including China, have done very poor in this regard, and there is an urgent need to establish reward and punishment measures to strengthen the recovery

although the consumption of metal packaging is limited, there is no substitute, so it is indispensable in packaging products. Except for some large industrial storage tanks, the largest daily consumption is cans, toothpaste skins, cans, food boxes and paint cans. Toothpaste skins have been gradually replaced by plastics. Due to the disordered recycling of metal products in China, the recovery rate is low

3. 2 implement the reward and punishment system and cultivate consumers' awareness of packaging waste recycling

the key to packaging waste recycling is the effective classification and recycling of garbage