Food Packaging and Circular Economy (2)

The solution of the food packaging industry can be summarized as: reduce, re-use, recycling, and regeneratm.

1. Moderate packaging

It is easier to give the next principled definition of moderate packaging: use the most economical (resources and energy) materials and methods for packaging while meeting the basic requirements for food packaging. The term "decrease" is used abroad, but "decrease" should be appropriate, so it is more appropriate to use "moderate packaging."

There is a lot of work to be done in the specific implementation:

A. Food safety is related to many factors, such as the characteristics of the food itself (acidity, nutrient content, sugar content, free water content), sterilization methods, storage and transportation methods (whether there is cold chain protection), food sensitivity to light, oxygen, and water vapor , set shelf life, etc. There should be different specific requirements for different products with different shelf life. A lot of research should be conducted by the manufacturers and related organizations. At present, manufacturers have great arbitrariness when choosing the packaging method and setting the shelf life. There are phenomena that the higher ones are lower, which causes waste of resources and increased pollution.

B. Food packaging also has the effect of increasing consumers' sense of enjoyment, increasing beauty, and stimulating consumers' desire to purchase. "Moderation" or "discomfort" often appears in this area, and management should be strengthened to formulate corresponding rules.

C. Prevent the spread of excessive packaging and oppose the abuse of "packaging".

Excessive packaging not only wastes state resources, but also contributes to the growth of unhealthy atmosphere in the society. It uses excessively-packaged “food” to make a big fight, pull relationships, and take a back door. There is a phenomenon that “buyers do not eat, eaters do not buy”.

However, the definition of "excessive packaging" is a complex issue. At present, there are defined by the packaging volume (or weight) ratio, also defined by price ratio. We must strengthen research in the future to make the definition work more scientific and fairer.

Recently, the meaning of packaging has been abused. People must pack, arts programs must be packaged, enterprises must pack, exhibitions must be packaged, cars and beauty must be packaged, and so on. To create a concept for people, "packaging" is luxury, packaging can make ordinary people into "stars", "experts", "artists", "masters" and so on. However, it is difficult for me to agree.

D. Control the use of disposable packaging products

For the sake of food safety, disposable packaging items (chopsticks, lunch boxes, plastic bags, etc.) have been widely developed, which has promoted the development of the food packaging industry and packaging technology. However, it has brought about increasingly serious resource consumption, environmental pollution and landscape destruction. When the city is near, the railroad is littered with trees on both sides of the road, and the water is almost all of these things. As there are no appropriate regulations, the problem has not been controlled. A person can buy a thing or even a dozen plastic bags at a supermarket or a free market. After throwing it home, they either throw it away, throw away domestic garbage, or even throw out used batteries to make it more difficult to classify and dispose of the garbage. It must be controlled by laws, public opinion and ethics.

As well as over-packaging, there are also problems with the definition of “necessary” and “non-essential” disposable packaging products. For example, the definition of disposable chopsticks, lunch boxes, plastic bags, etc., and the social atmosphere and consumption of consumers. Habits related

2. reuse

In the course of the development of the food packaging industry, the repeated use of packaging supplies was once more common. For example, glass bottles, porcelain cans, metal barrels, etc., are more commonly used in countries such as China, the United States, Britain, Eastern Europe, and India. Later, reusable polycarbonate bottles were developed in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal.

Repeated use of packaging supplies will naturally result in risk, cleaning and partial damage.

Correctly determine the scope of reuse should be:

A. Comprehensive assessment of the reasonable scope of repeated use;
B. Properly distinguish packaging industry is base or urban type;
C. Establish a national recycling, delivery, and cleaning mechanism;
u. Promulgate corresponding regulations.

3. recycle

Recycled use refers to the reduction of packaging materials or packaging containers that have already been used to packaging materials with original uses. It is possible that after the restoration, the product grade will be reduced, but the basic use cannot be changed.

The main advantages of recycling are the conservation of resources, energy conservation and pollution reduction. As a result, they have attracted the attention of relevant departments and all sectors of society.

A. The role of the cycle to save resources in Sichuan is easy to understand. Any resource on the earth is limited. For example, aluminum, tinplate, glass, paper and plastic raw materials commonly used in food packaging such as bauxite, iron ore, quartz sand, wood, and stone coffins are all limited. At present, some savings will be made and it will be possible to use more time in the future. The saving of energy is even more important because many energy sources cannot be reduced or recovered, such as oil, coal, natural gas, etc.
B. A rough estimate shows that many food packaging materials can save a considerable amount of energy when recycled.
C. The recycling of food packaging materials is more difficult than the recycling of similar packaging materials for other uses.

because:

The unit of delivery is too small (often a box, a bag or a bottle);

There is food residue;

External printing layer needs to be solved;

Composite plastic applications more.

Therefore, the establishment and improvement of the classification and cleaning mechanism and the homogenous research should be intensified.

Some achievements have been made in the separation of composite plastics. Tetra Pak has accumulated a lot of experience in this area.

At the same time, it is relatively easy to recycle several parts of a transport pack, a display pack or a secondary pack.