Today is the 51st Earth Day, what can we pulp molders do for the earth?
It is interlocked to be endless, as a fully degradable environmentally friendly material, but the public, including professionals in the packaging industry, is only aware of egg trays for pulp molding. What can pulp molding do? It is environmentally friendly and how friendly it is to the environment. More people are required to participate in the promotion of knowledge in this area. This is a boon for the industry and the earth.
According to Ai Media Consulting, it released the "Special Research Report on Merchants in the Chinese Catering Delivery Market during the 2020 Epidemic".
The report predicts that the epidemic will force traditional industries to accelerate their transformation online, and the products and formats in the takeaway market will become more diverse. With the continuous upgrade of the quality service on the supply side of the takeaway market and the continuous strengthening of the consumption habits of the takeaway on the demand side, the scale of the takeaway market is expected to continue to expand.
According to the take-out at an average price of 25 yuan, at least two lunch boxes, one drink cup, and one bag are required. These 650 billion takeaway orders will consume 52 billion lunch boxes, 26 billion drink cups, and 25 billion bags. Calculated according to the length of each meal box 30 cm, it can be filled with the Great Wall, and the plastic bags used every day can be filled with dozens of football fields. If plastic products cannot be effectively recycled, the harm to the environment can last for hundreds of years. For marine life, it is more likely to be a disaster.
In order to solve these problems, this year, countries around the world have promulgated various regulations and policies to prohibit or restrict plastics, and we have also introduced relevant policies. The regulations have stipulated that the market is also in place, and the need for containers for packaging for take-out has restricted disposable plastic products. Whether or not the substitutes can keep up determines the implementability and effectiveness of the policy.
In order to promote the implementation of the "New Plastic Restriction Order" and "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution", in accordance with the direction and work objectives of the restrictions that have been clearly defined in the "Opinions," the National Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments drafted The Catalogue of Plastic Products Prohibited and Restricted from Production, Sale, and Use (Draft for Comment) is open for public comments. * The time for public comment is from April 10, 2020 to April 19, 2020.
Prohibit the production and sale of oxygen-degradable plastic products
Studies have shown that oxygen-degradable plastics have the following characteristics:
① As it cannot be properly biodegraded, it causes microplastic pollution in the environment;
② No composting; ③ Negative impact on the recycling of traditional plastics;
④ Cannot prove to have environmental benefits.
Accordingly, it is recommended that oxygen-degradable plastic products be included in "plastic products prohibited to be produced and sold."
Prohibit the production and sale of PVC plastic products in related industries and fields
Attention should be paid to plastics that are harmful to human health. Among them, PVC and other materials have the highest environmental health risks. The "Opinions" require that plastic product manufacturing companies not illegally add chemical additives that are harmful to humans and the environment. PVC plastic products have many types of additives and high content, and are widely used in various types of daily necessities.
It is recommended that the catalogue follow the "Opinions" and include some PVC plastic products that endanger the health of sensitive people (especially children, mothers and infants) as "prohibited production and sales of plastic products", such as: baby bottles and pacifiers in mother and infant products, and student products Cover, eraser, etc.
For plastic products that are easily lost to the environment, optimization of product design should be encouraged
The study found that some plastic products with large consumption and small volume are easily lost to the environment, such as bottle caps and drinking straws on beverage bottles, ranking among the top ten types of beach garbage in the world. You can optimize the product design and find ways to create resale conditions to effectively increase its recovery rate. For example, the integrated design that keeps the bottle cap always attached to the beverage bottle to prevent small volume plastic bottle caps from entering the environment.
At present, there are already beverage manufacturers using this product design, such as Coca-Cola, EVIAN, Pepsi, AQUAFINA and so on. Gradually improve the design of plastic products that are conducive to recycling, adopt catalog management for products that are not conducive to recycling, prohibit their production and sales, guide, and promote enterprises to switch to product design methods that are conducive to recycling.
Prohibit production and sales
Plastic products not marked as required
For some disposable plastic products that have a greater environmental impact and currently have no alternative solution, such as cigarette butts, sanitary napkins, sanitary napkins, wet wipes, etc., consumers should be informed of the following information in an irreversible way:
① The appropriate waste management plan of the product or the waste disposal method that the product should avoid;
② Explain clearly the fact that plastics are present in the product, and the resulting littering or other inappropriate waste disposal methods that have a negative impact on the environment. In order to guide the reduction of consumer behavior, to avoid consumers' wrong handling.
It is necessary to gradually improve the catalog of plastic products that need to be marked accordingly, and to prohibit the production and sale of plastic products that are not marked as required.
The expression "prohibited, restricted use"
Was modified to "prohibition of use"
In order to reflect the principle of gradually prohibiting the use of specific types of plastic products by region and time limit in the "Opinions", for a more clear policy signal on the ban on plastics and waste reduction, the revised opinions will be put forward The expression was amended to "Second, gradually banned plastic products". And this policy implementation is more operable.
Gradually prohibit the use of "disposable express plastic (emphasis on recycling) packaging",
The catalog prohibits the use of non-degradable plastic packaging bags, disposable plastic woven bags and plastic tapes in the e-commerce industry. In addition, the current promotion of circular packaging in the express e-commerce industry is not ideal. We are very concerned about replacing these non-degradable express packaging. It will be so-called biodegradable plastic products.
However, the recycling and separation of biodegradable plastics and traditional plastics are also a problem. Biodegradable plastic products are mostly disposable products, which are difficult to reuse. Is it necessary for the express industry to have environmental, economic and social benefits? Consider further.
In this context, it is recommended to modify "non-degradable plastic packaging bags" and "non-degradable disposable plastic woven bags" to "disposable plastic packaging bags" and "disposable plastic woven bags" respectively, and promote recycling methods, giving priority to development Reusable express packaging.
Since the catalog does not mention the use of non-degradable plastic products, what are the alternative solutions or products?
Can biodegradable plastic products such as PLA, pulp molded products, paper bags and other biodegradable products completely replace the above requirements? The answer to this question determines whether these policies and regulations can be implemented as scheduled.
The following discusses the possibility of replacing pulp molded products. Pulp molded products are cold dishes, and cold food is more mature, but the takeaway market is more hot food, which puts higher requirements on pulp molding. There are many group companies now studying hot food and pulp molded products for heating food. It is believed that in the near future, full paper take-out packaging will appear in front of your eyes.
In January of this year, Starbucks Global announced its sustainable development vision for the next few decades, with plans to reduce carbon emissions, water consumption and waste by 50% by 2030. Vigorously promote the use of paper and pulp molded products and Xingshanshi ™ series of plant dietary products.
It is understood that the packaging of Xingshanshi ™ series of dietary products all uses renewable plant fibers, and is a pulp molded product that has obtained the international biodegradable professional standard OK Compost industrial and household composting authority certification. The carrying strap on the meal box is made of recycled milk boxes and can also be used as a placemat after opening.
Starbucks also launched a series of creative environmental protection peripherals. For example, the coffee grounds recovered from Starbucks stores are recycled into environmentally friendly and renewable materials (the content of coffee grounds is more than 30%), which has become the accompanying cups and notebooks of this season. According to Starbucks, in the future, perhaps the table and chair furniture of the store will also be made of "coffee grounds" ~
Starbucks also introduced full pulp molded hot coffee, hot food full paper and pulp molded packaging products.
Of course, our domestic entrepreneurs are also working hard. A few days ago, I saw the pulp molding products for soup and Chinese catering in the circle of friends of Guangxi Qiaowang Pan Dong.
Protect the earth, start from me, promote environmental protection, promote pulp molding, let more people understand, use, recommend pulp molding, everyone shout together.
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