Plastic packaging takes the road of green and sustainable development

02/12/2022

Plastic packaging takes the road of green and sustainable development
1、 Background of plastic packaging industry
         As an important petrochemical industry product, plastic packaging application is not only related to carbon emissions, but also highly related to disposable product pollution control. Plastic packaging covers a wide range of enterprises from upstream polymer companies to brand enterprises and logistics industries. Packaging industry is also an important industry, ranking 14th among 38 major industrial sectors. The enterprises involved in packaging recycling are still dominated by the recycling industry, and it is difficult to form the upstream and downstream closed-loop model.
As a packaging material, plastic is different from other metal, paper and other materials. There are many types of plastic resins, such as PP, PE, PET, PS, PA, PU, etc., which have different uses. As a packaging feature, the value is relatively low. The recycling chain involves a wide range of industries, and the product recycling supply chain is different.
Therefore, when exploring the way of green low-carbon cycle of plastic packaging, we should solve the problem of recyclability of plastic packaging of existing products to reduce the amount of disposable plastic entering the environment. It is also necessary to solve the problem of high added value of recycled plastic packaging products, so as to achieve a sustainable recycling value chain, so that more individuals and consumer terminals can participate in recycling and recycling, and can obtain incentives or profits.
When discussing the problem of plastic waste packaging, it is inseparable from the urban domestic waste recycling system. Many plastic wastes belong to low value recyclable wastes, but in actual classification, except PET bottles, other plastic packaging is not separated from non recyclable wastes. In addition to waste plastics, low value recyclables mainly include waste glass, waste paper, waste wood, waste textiles, and electronic waste, which account for about 40% of the total waste.
2、 Green low-carbon circular development policy leads recycling
        The dual carbon strategy forces the transformation of enterprises, and all industries are faced with carbon emission reduction of raw materials, supply chains and waste. In the documents of the 20th National Congress, it is proposed to "actively and steadily promote the dual carbon strategy, promote green and low-carbon development, and promote the formation of green and low-carbon production and lifestyle". In the context of dual carbon, the plastic circular economy is widely recognized for its contribution to solving 40% of global carbon emissions of products and services. In July 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" for the Development of Circular Economy, which proposed to "focus on building a resource recycling industrial system, accelerate the construction of a recycling system for waste materials, comprehensively improve the efficiency of resource utilization, improve the utilization level of renewable resources, and establish a sound green low-carbon circular development economic system." In 2021, the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green and Low Carbon Cyclic Development Economic System, which proposes to establish and improve a green and low carbon circular development economic system from planning, design, investment, construction, production, circulation, life to consumption. In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" Action Plan for Plastic Pollution Control, proposing to accelerate the standardized recycling and disposal of plastic waste. These policy documents are very clear policy guidance, but lack of regulatory basis and standard documents. So far, China has not promulgated the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) similar to the EU. China will revise the Solid Waste Law in 2021, but it does not include plastic packaging. This is because circular economy involves all aspects of society and requires innovative paths and models.
At present, the pilot plastic packaging industry is mainly in the express industry, which mainly involves the secondary packaging of products. This is also due to the growth of packaging volume brought about by the rapid development of the express industry. The per capita express volume in China has increased from 0.01 in 2000 to nearly 50 in 2019, 59 in 2020 and 70 in 2021. In 2019, the State Post Office issued the Guide to Green Packaging in the Express Industry (for Trial Implementation), targeting the standardization, reduction and recyclability of green packaging in the express industry. On the premise of not affecting the safety of express delivery, gradually select packaging materials with low gram weight and high strength, and design and use packaging or buffers with uniform specifications. In 2020, 8 departments including the State Administration of Market Supervision issued the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Standardization of Express Green Packaging. The way of biodegradable materials is adopted for express packaging. It is analyzed that if biodegradable plastic packaging bags and environment-friendly adhesive tapes are used for all express packages, the cost increase brought about by these changes will account for about 2.1% of the business income of express service enterprises nationwide, which is huge and difficult to implement. Still need a solution in terms of recycling. In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Post Office jointly issued a notice to organize large-scale application pilot of recyclable express packaging from January 2022 to December 2023.
3、 Exploring the Innovation Mode of Plastic Packaging Recycling
         For the plastic industry, in terms of volume, China has the largest plastic production and consumption in the world. In 2019, the output of primary plastic in China was 95.741 million tons, and the output of plastic products was 81.842 million tons, equivalent to 1/3 of the total global plastic output. Among them, the five major resins [1] account for 75% of the total plastic output. The materials used for packaging plastics and films are mainly polyolefins. Polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are collectively referred to as polyolefins, accounting for 60% of the five major resins. The polyester PET used for making bottles is about 7 million tons, which is also the main source of primary plastics. Although this has caused a large amount of waste, it has also formed China's largest plastic recycling industry in the world.
It is necessary to make all-round changes from the full life cycle of plastic packaging.
    1. The design of plastic packaging and product itself is the key to limit the recovery rate. Product packaging design is essential to reduce unnecessary packaging and ensure that plastic packaging is suitable for reuse or recycling after its service life. Part of the reason for the high cost of recycling is that many products are not designed with back-end recycling requirements in mind. For example, recycling enterprises need to manually peel off the labels on plastic bottles. Pay attention to product design and consider recycling standards. One is that the material itself can be recycled and does not contain substances harmful to the environment. The other is that the design from materials to packaging products can be disassembled and lightweight.
The World Business Council (WBCSD) and 12 global business enterprises will release the Packaging Sustainability Framework (SPHERE) for the overall environmental impact assessment of packaging in 2021. The framework is based on six principles, including packaging efficiency recycling, impact on climate change and biodiversity loss, no harmful substances and waste management, and methodologies and databases.
In July 2021, the Global Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) released the detailed guidelines of the Gold Design Principles, covering most of the plastic packaging. It promoted with 40 retailers, consumer brands and processors in its plastic waste action alliance, and there have been some good cases. For example, Mars Food cooperated with Amcor to launch the first single material microwave ready to eat packaging that meets food safety requirements, increasing the recycling value of flexible plastic packaging, maintaining the packaging shape, longer shelf life, functionality and high safety standards, and increasing the benefits of easier recycling.
    2. Improve the classification ratio of recycling front-end. With the promotion of waste classification, many communities use intelligent recycling methods. For example, the intelligent recycling machine can independently recycle plastic bottles, paper, glass and other renewable resources, and subsidize the cost of recycling through the chain of back-end renewable products. This is a form based on the international deposit system, which can ensure the traceability and safety of recycled materials. However, due to the high cost of the intelligent recycling machine itself and the high maintenance and transportation costs of large-scale collection, it is difficult to compete with other recycling models.
Under the guidance of the principle of circular economy reduction, reuse and recycling (3R), the market for reuse such as sharing and second-hand idle exchange is becoming more and more active. Internet platforms, such as idle fish, Aishou, JD Recycling, etc., cooperate with recycling enterprises to provide access to the Internet platform. Consumers trade on the platform or provide waste articles for free, or recycle them at home by recyclers. Waste is reduced by increasing exchange use. The products recycled from Internet websites are mainly clothes, household appliances, books, etc., and plastic beverage bottles, bath bottles and other high-value products. However, as the Internet platform only provides access, large-scale collection and regeneration disposal of back-end recycling can not be solved.
    3. Strengthen the value chain recycling approach and open the incentive mode. The recycling system of renewable resources in China has always existed, but the difference between this system and the urban waste treatment system is that it is a market-oriented system without too many incentive policies and financial subsidies. Due to low value and dispersion, the recycling cost of these plastic packaging increases, and the economy becomes the main obstacle to recycling. Therefore, building a sustainable recycling system requires policy support from local governments. Some cities provide subsidies for low value products, or provide recycling operation service licenses, and give priority to purchasing renewable products. In terms of improving the high value utilization of renewable products, the joint participation of Internet platforms, brand enterprises and consumers is needed to expand the product market.
    4. Building a reasonable front-end recycling system is still the focus. The demand for post consumer plastics (PCR) in Europe and the United States and more and more brand enterprises is increasing, that is, it must be recycled from consumers, and the requirements for the quality and quantity of recycled products are also raised accordingly. China has formed the world's largest post consumer plastic recycling market, and the low-end recycled products have begun to turn to high-quality recycling, becoming a new application field. In terms of high-value recycled products, with the transformation of the industrial technology end, more high-tech enterprises have emerged. Renewable products have expanded to the fields of construction, automobile, daily chemicals, outdoor, decoration, luxury goods, and entered the supply chain of brand enterprises. This also poses a challenge to the quality of recycled products. It is necessary to have relevant traceability and quality certification standards for recycled products from renewable resources, as well as establish a quota model. For example, the recycler's recycling volume needs to be licensed by the region to ensure the traceability of recycling and provide it to downstream plastic recycling manufacturers.
At present, for the recycling system, there is a new revision in 2022 of the Technical Specification for Pollution Control of Waste Plastics Recycling and Recycling for the production of recycling enterprises, which stipulates the requirements for pollution control and environmental management in the process of waste plastics production, collection, transportation, storage, pretreatment, recycling and disposal. At present, the standard for recycled plastics has just started. In 2021, 12 standards for recycled plastic granules were issued, including the general rules for recycled plastics and 8 kinds of plastic resins. Focusing on the design, production and supply chain of recycled plastics, a series of standards have been introduced, including the General Principles for the Evaluation of the Design of Plastic Products that are Easy to Recycle and Recycle, the Evaluation of Green Recycled Plastic Particles, and the certification certificate of Green Recycled Plastics Certification - Chain of Production and Marketing Supervision, and relevant signs have been designed. These standards are only for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in recycling. They lack sufficient capacity and funds to improve the quality of enterprises. They are still far away from renewable products, especially brand applications.
   5. Establish a recycling system that links consumption measurement with dual carbon targets. The carbon emission of a 5g plastic bag is 33g. A 100% recycled PET tray will reduce the carbon footprint by 24% compared with new materials. The potential for recycling and emission reduction is huge. However, due to the low value of plastics, consumers generally do not care about the economic income from plastic recycling. The most important thing in forming a closed loop is to encourage consumers to send plastic packaging back. This requires cooperation with enterprises and local governments to give more incentives to green recycling. By linking the emission reduction of recycled products with the consumption behavior of consumers, a scientific and reasonable recycling system has been formed. Now, various places and many Internet and banks have launched carbon account books for personal carbon accounts, and promoted the recycling of families and communities by establishing a carbon inclusive trading market. The green low-carbon cycle products of enterprises can be recognized by users through the carbon inclusive market, and help enterprises achieve carbon emission reduction in the supply chain, and achieve a leap from the enterprise end to the consumer end.  
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