Waste disposal, promote packaging innovation

According to statistics, China's total output of packaging products in 2000 was 20.34 million tons. Among them, 11.89 million tons of paper products, 2.41 million tons of plastic products, 1.78 million tons of metal products, and 4.26 million tons of glass containers. The 688 cities in the country produced 190 million tons of garbage in 2000, and each city produces 440 kg of garbage per person.

In order to study the proportion of packaging waste in urban waste, we assume that all packaging products produced in this year will be abandoned as urban waste. In 2000, the ratio of packaging waste to urban garbage was 10.7%, because packaging waste was very high in urban areas. Concentration, and produce a very strong visual effect, people have attracted widespread attention to this "white pollution." In recent years, a considerable amount of packaging waste has been recycled, so the actual proportion of packaging waste to urban waste should be less than 10.7%.

At present, the main methods for the treatment of packaging waste at home and abroad are:

REUSE: The entire package or part of the package is recycled after use and processed again for packaging.
RECYCLE: Used packaging is recycled, processed and reprocessed for use in different areas.
RECOVER: Use of heat energy from recycled materials through incineration.
LANDFILL: Together with urban waste, it is sent to a landfill site for burial.
At present, the Western European countries' recycling of packaging waste and energy are shown in Table 1. It can be seen that in these developed countries, the recycling and utilization of energy has reached a fairly high level, and the use of energy is slightly higher than the level of recycling. .

Table 1: Statistics on the recycling and use of energy for packaging waste in Western European countries

National recycling and recycling energy total %
(recycle)(energyrecover)
Denmark 9 76 85
Germany 51 19 70
France 12 37 49
Italy 12 10 22
Greece 2 19 21
Ireland 4 0 4
Western Europe 18 22 40

China should vigorously provide reuse of packaging. Designers and producers of packaging should produce more packages that are conducive to reuse, and consumers should consciously choose packages that can be reused. For example, you don't have to buy bottled soy sauce every time. You can buy soy sauce in a plastic bag. After you go home, pour the soy sauce into the original soy sauce bottle and continue using it.

In our country's cities, the recycling of packaging should be strongly advocated because it must be economic. However, the proportion of recovery and recycling should not be rigidly defined in rural and remote areas, because recycling and recycling in these areas may result in greater waste of resources and pollution. Energy reuse should be promoted. Because the use of high technology can achieve safe combustion and prevent environmental pollution. Burning plastic and other packaging waste is much cleaner than burning coal. Because of the high calorific value of packaging wastes such as plastics, the heat energy emitted by burning it is slightly lower than the thermal energy of fuel. It is also a finished product of petroleum. Before being burned, it is more than human fuel for packaging. One contribution, because packaging waste is collected and transported within the city, which saves a lot of energy and costs compared to transporting coal over long distances. The amount of burial should be minimized. China is a country with a shortage of resources. There is a large amount of cheap labor. We should try to separate available resources before landfills are buried.

Reducing the use of packaging (Reduce) is recognized as the primary packaging principle at home and abroad. The first factor to consider when implementing the functions of packaging protection, transportation, storage, and sales is to minimize the use of packaging materials. The best packaging for the environment is the one with the least amount of use. The latter is more environmentally friendly when there is a conflict between the recyclability of the packaging and the reduction in the amount of use. In China, we must resolutely oppose over-packaging. We should eliminate excessive packaging from the root cause of public consumption.

Green packaging is a fashionable term, but it is difficult for experts to define strict definitions, and it is difficult for authoritative organizations to determine which packaging is green. Because, even if the packaging is arbitrarily abandoned after use, it will also cause pollution. We advocate that green packaging mainly promotes packaging that is less harmful to the environment and humans and that is easy to recycle and handle.

Judgments and decisions based on general concepts and common sense environmental issues are often dangerous. Because people generally cannot see the entire life cycle of a product (or service). Only by examining the total impact on the environment in all aspects of the entire life cycle can the subjectivity and blindness of decision-making be avoided. In China, we should vigorously promote the life cycle analysis method.

The use of banned measures is the most severe measure. It is much more stringent than the mandatory recycling methods adopted by some developed countries. It means shutting down a group of enterprises, which means the disposal of a batch of equipment and the unemployment of a group of workers. A few years of practice should arouse our reflection. Is it wisest to adopt a ban?

The historical experience is worth learning. When floods occurred in the Xia Dynasty in China, the father's father used the method of “blocking” to treat the water. He failed and was executed. However, through the investigation and comparison, the "guide" approach was used to achieve success. This enlightens us: Is it more effective to increase recycling and disposal than simply disabling?

The effectiveness of the protection of the environment in developed countries is not banned by relying on the need to increase recovery and disposal. There is no banned clause in the German packaging law, which mainly stipulates the proportion of the responsible persons who collect and dispose of packaging waste and various packaging wastes. It has established a DSD company that is responsible for the recycling of packaging waste, and has established corporate payment and green implementation. Point sign system. Germany's strict management model has achieved good results. It has been adopted by other countries. The "flexible policy" implemented by France on this basis has also achieved very good results. The United States takes another route. It does not rigidly specify the proportion of various packaging wastes to be recycled. It does not limit the way that packaging wastes are handled. The disposal of packaging wastes is done by the original municipal waste treatment system. According to expert analysis of this issue, the United States has a leading level in this regard. It now appears that strengthening recycling and disposal of waste is a good way to protect the environment.

Establish a packaging waste recycling system. With reference to the German practice, a dedicated packaging waste disposal system can be established by the enterprise. This system does not replace the existing municipal waste treatment system, but serves as a supplement to this system, making the system more concise and effective.

In previous years, Beijing and other cities tried to set up a special recycling company. The packaging and packaging companies paid a certain amount of recycling and processing fees to the recycling company according to their production. The recycling company was responsible for recycling the designated packaging waste. At that time, good results were achieved: Beijing's five garbage disposal sites were piled with white plastic products like the hills, and even the waste plastic lunch boxes of the nearby provinces and cities were collected. Later, due to the insufficiency of processing capacity, the market development of processed products was not done well, and finally the recycling was stopped. It now appears that if these recyclables were sent directly to the incineration power plant and the processing fee was given to the incineration power plant, this was a good thing that the power plant could not do.

Packaging waste recycling system is based on packaging companies, especially the production of disposable plastic foam tableware and other products that have a large impact on the environment. For them, paying a certain amount of recycling and processing fees is much stronger than being suspended. For established packaging companies, production can control pollution. The key to this system is that there are a group of companies that are specifically responsible for recycling. They use the return fees paid by the production companies to recycle the specified packaging wastes and send them to the companies that deal with them. Because recycling is not difficult, these companies also There will be benefits.