The contradiction between the supply and demand of resources has become increasingly prominent and environmental pressures are increasing. Currently, it has become a bottleneck restricting the sustainable development of China's plastic packaging industry. Therefore, the development of circular economy, promotion of green packaging, and adherence to recycling have become the only way for the current healthy development of the plastic packaging industry. This is the consensus reached by the participants at the Green Packaging Symposium held by the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences in Suzhou on July 7-8.

China is a world leader in packaging manufacturing and consumption. The proportion of plastic packaging in the total output value of the packaging industry has exceeded 30%. It has become a new force in the packaging industry and plays an irreplaceable role in various fields such as food, beverages, daily necessities, and industrial and agricultural production. In 2005, the output of plastic packaging in China exceeded 8 million tons and became a major consumer of synthetic resins in China's plastics processing industry. Li Peisheng, executive vice president of the Green Packaging Branch of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, pointed out at the meeting that most of the packaging products are disposable and have a short life cycle. At the same time, the plastic packaging materials have a long-lasting and corrosion-resistant nature, resulting in a substantial increase in the waste of plastic packaging. With the growing environmental pressure, it is particularly urgent to develop a circular economy in the plastic packaging industry and adhere to the principle of `3R` (reduction, reuse, recycling). Green packaging will become the new darling of the packaging market.

Chen Changjie, secretary-general of the Shanghai Packaging Technology Association's Green Packaging Committee, gave this explanation to green packaging: Packaging that is conducive to sustainable human development is green packaging. In addition to the characteristics of protecting the goods, facilitating storage and transportation, and promoting sales, the ideal green packaging should also have three basic conditions: safety and health, environmental protection, and resource conservation. Plastic packaging materials have unique advantages in terms of greenization. Their raw materials are all kinds of polymer materials, and generally have good hygienic safety performance; most of the production process can achieve clean production; plastic packaging materials are mostly thermoplastic plastics, can be heated multiple times Melt-molded, with recyclable, recyclable properties; most flammable, waste can be treated by incineration and recover heat energy. In recent years, the development and application of biodegradable plastics have created favorable conditions for solving the pollution problems of waste plastic packaging materials.

It is understood that there is no unified definition and standard for China's green packaging, and the Green Packaging Branch of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences is working with related organizations to organize the drafting of relevant standards for green packaging and the development of relevant labels.

Reprinted from: China Chemical News