At present, there are a wide variety of food packaging on the market, including paper packaging, plastic packaging metal packaging, and glass packaging. However, in terms of environmental protection, there are categories of recoverable and non-recyclable products. So the future of food packaging is dominated by paper or plastic packaging?

In the modern packaging industry system, paper and paper containers occupy a very important position. China's paper packaging materials account for about 40% of the total amount of packaging materials. From the development trend, the amount of paper packaging will increase. The use of plastics as packaging materials is an important symbol for the development of modern technology. With abundant raw materials, low cost, and excellent performance, plastics have become the world's fastest growing and most used packaging material in the last 40 years. However, the use of plastic packaging materials for food packaging has some aspects of the completion of hygiene and safety, and the problem of environmental pollution caused by packaging waste.

At present, China's plastics used in food packaging accounts for 1/4 of the total plastic output. With the improvement of environmental protection, it is imperative for consumers to eliminate backward packaging. Improvement of plastic materials is also a top priority.

Under the impact of environmental protection waste, the world packaging industry is undergoing a major transformation, and green packaging has become the direction of the packaging industry. China's packaging industry has been focusing on the development of green packaging for decades, fully implementing green packaging projects, accelerating the industrialization of recycling processing and the industrialization of green packaging materials, and has made gratifying achievements.

In order to comprehensively introduce the current situation and development trend of the domestic and foreign differentiated packaging industry, first of all, we should find out the scope of the green packaging's definition domain, and give detailed introduction below.

First, the definition and scope of the green packaging

The definition of green packaging: harmless to the ecological environment and human health, can be recycled and reused, can maintain sustainable development of the packaging. Packaging products meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection from the selection of raw materials, product manufacturing, use and disposal of the entire life cycle. This is consistent with the “3R” (Reduce reduction, Reuse reuse, Recycle recycling) and “ID” (Degradable degradable) principles of packaging developed by industrialized countries in the world.

The content of green packaging has new meanings along with the progress of science and technology and the development of packaging. Green packaging is a systematic project. A technological revolution in the packaging industry is a foundation for future responsibility. In the future market competition, packaging for the environment will be able to survive and develop. Packages that are harmful to the environment will be eliminated. This is the inevitable trend of packaging development.

While maintaining good packaging effect, green packaging has three aspects:

1. The most provincial packaging materials, less waste, and save resources and energy;
2. Easy to recycle, reuse and recycle 3. When the packaging waste is burned, it generates new energy without generating any pollution or it can be decomposed or degraded on its own without polluting the environment.

Green packaging industrialization is the terminal goal of green packaging system engineering. The so-called industrialization, which includes the formation of a group of green packaging products manufacturing enterprises (including the provision of processing equipment companies), but also for these companies to serve the decision-making control system, technology support system and industry coordination system. Industrialization has two major features: scale and system.

Second, the status quo and comparison of green packaging industry at home and abroad

The green packaging industry can be divided into three types according to the type of technology: natural materials for packaging, ecological materials for packaging or traditional materials for ecological transformation, and recycling of waste packaging materials.
Divided by time series, the first two technologies occur before packaging and can be referred to as early industries, and the latter can be referred to as post-processing industries.

In the supporting industry where both the industry and the post-processing industries are green packaging, the task of the packaging industry should be to reproduce the use of non-polluting raw materials to produce packaging products, packaging products to be reused as much as possible and conducive to recycling, and packaging waste should be made as little as possible to the environment. Pollution.

Regardless of how it is divided, manufacturing apparel and waste packaging are the two terminals of the circulation process. Green packaging industrialization is to make this conflicting aspect organically linked and complement each Other.

Now both the domestic and international packaging industry are working hard in these two areas, trying to solve the environmental pollution of the packaging in the early stage of the industry, reducing the amount of packaging, manufacturing more green packaging products instead of non-green packaging products, reducing the late Industrial packaging waste is difficult to handle.

The packaging industry has its positive effects on the development of the national economy and its negative effects on the environment. We must make the packaging industry continue to develop healthily under the premise of reducing negative effects as much as possible. After the governance of the old road. The more developed the packaging industry, the greater the negative effect. After decades of twists and turns in the Western developed countries, the slogans of “reduction,” “resources,” and even “unpackaged” packaging were shouted out. Performance in the industrial structure, they gradually focus on the development of packaging waste processing and processing industry, in the aspects of policy, investment, provide packaging waste processing and processing of the development environment.

According to the total investment statistics of the packaging industry in foreign countries in 1992, the ratio of pre-packaging industry to post-processing industry is 80:1 in the United States and 47:1 in Japan. China does not have statistical data in this respect, but it can be affirmed that China's post-processing industry is higher than the United States. less. The reality of our country is in the tortuous history of developed countries. Since the reform and opening up, the packaging industry, as one of the pillar industries of the national economy, has made great progress. From the central to local areas, packaging investment has increased year by year, product projects have continued to emerge, and technological innovation has continued to innovate. Green packaging has been linked to environmental protection. Projects, especially post-processing projects for waste packaging that are widely concerned by the public, have rarely entered investors' "platters." Our post-packaged processing industry is at best a state of letting go of its own. The direct result of this imbalance in industrial structure is that the waste of resources continues to expand and environmental pollution continues to expand. If this situation is not reversed, one day it will hinder or even curb the development of the packaging industry.

In this regard, our decision-makers engaged in the packaging industry must give sufficient attention to increase the packaging industry components, keep pace with the development of the world's green packaging industry, narrowing the gap between us and the developed countries in the world.

(to be continued)