Table of Contents
With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, consumers’ preference for “green” products has significantly increased. Green packaging has become a bonus for products, which has prompted more and more enterprises to seize the opportunity, promote the green transformation of product packaging, and create a differentiated competitive advantage for brands through packaging “carbon reduction”, and quickly stand out among peers.
The new version of the “plastic ban” we often refer to not only requires the prohibition and restriction of the use of non degradable disposable plastic products, but also aims to promote the green transformation of the plastic packaging industry. Realizing this, many enterprises have stepped out of the misconception of “plastic prohibition” and no longer reject all plastic packaging in a “one size fits all” manner.
Instead, according to actual application needs, plastic packaging can be turned “green” through various methods such as packaging reduction, the use of renewable materials, and the use of packaging containing recycled ingredients.
Green package manufacture, [email protected]
Reduce – Less Packaging
In the fast-moving consumer goods industry with severe homogenization, a certain brand of PET bottles has taken a new path in packaging carbon reduction, proposing a differentiated new concept of “lightweight packaging”: while retaining product labels, the brand has achieved a win-win situation of “environmental carbon reduction” and “brand marketing”.
According to Mintel’s survey, labeling too much useless or false information can interfere with consumers’ judgment and affect their purchasing desire. From this, it can be seen that simple and clear labels on the outer packaging and product information that allow consumers to clearly see the condition of the product are the most likely to win consumers’ favor and trust.
Renew – Resource regeneration
By innovating materials, carbon emissions from plastic packaging can also be effectively reduced. Coca Cola launched its first plastic beverage bottle made of 100% plant-based plastic last year.
This new plant-based plastic bottle is similar in appearance, function, and recycling to traditional PET materials, but has less impact on the Earth and the environment compared to traditional PET materials.
It is made of p-xylene (bPX), a new raw material extracted from corn sucrose, and uses the new process of Virent, an American bioenergy company, to convert it into p-bio benzoic acid (bPTA).
As the world’s first mass-produced paraxylene (bPX) beverage packaging material, this new technology simplifies the intermediate steps of the extraction process of bio based ethylene glycol (bMEG), ensuring diversity in raw material selection, and also supporting the use of more types of renewable materials in the production process.
Similarly, Aino, a brand under the Finnish ice cream manufacturer Froneri, has its ice cream bucket and lid molded from a single polypropylene (PP) material, which is processed from renewable raw materials made from “second generation” biomass, waste, and residue. At the same time, by using the same PP material label, the material of this bio based PP packaging can also be simplified, achieving 100% recyclability.
Recycled – plastic recycling
Unilever, which has signed a commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, plans to achieve at least 25% of plastic sourced from recycled plastics by 2025. It has also taken the lead in launching multiple products with 100% PCR recycled plastic bottle bodies in China.
By using “gray carbon” to recycle, clean, and rebuild plastic bottles into new product packaging, the use of native plastics is reduced, thereby reducing dependence and consumption on non renewable raw materials such as petroleum.
Recycled + Renew
Etchðos, a cutting-edge brand under Ego, an innovative skincare manufacturer in Australia, won three prestigious awards including the “Sustainable Packaging Design Gold Award of the Year” at the Australian Packaging Innovation and Design Competition (PIDA) for its unique packaging design.
The winning 1L replacement product packaging 50% of the raw materials are recycled from HDPE plastic discarded milk bottles in Australia. This packaging can be recycled through convenient recycling stations, and it is expected that Etch&Ethos can recycle approximately 200000 milk bottles for packaging production in its first year of launch.
This packaging not only uses environmentally friendly HDPE recycled plastic as the main packaging material, but also features a unique label. It is the industry’s first 100% wood-based film label – Feno Lantai Forest Film ™ The forest film PE label (hereinafter referred to as “forest film PE”) combines low-carbon environmental protection with excellent plastic performance! Compared to using traditional polyethylene (PE) film labels, forest film PE can help Yigao reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 48%.
The forest film PE label is made from UPM BioVerno naphtha, a renewable raw material made from residues from the pulp production process, which replaces equal amounts of traditional fossil materials during the production process and has passed the ISCC PLUS (International Sustainable Development and Carbon Certification).
At the same time, forest film PE has excellent adhesion, labeling performance, and excellent printing effect, no less than traditional plastic films. It is an ideal choice for hard packaging containers in food, beverage, and daily chemical terminal applications.
Conclusion
Embracing the new changes in the “dual carbon” era does not mean completely abandoning plastic products. Plastic packaging can also effectively achieve green transformation through appropriate material selection and design.
Behind these successful cases, from the brand side to suppliers and then to consumers, all aspects of the industry chain are actively promoting low-carbon plastic packaging innovation.
On the path of promoting green development in the packaging industry, we hope to share the innovative practices of these brand merchants and eliminate everyone’s misunderstanding of “plastic ban”.
Prohibition of plastics does not mean no plastics. The goal of prohibition is not to return human society to an era without plastic products, but to resolve white pollution, prohibit and restrict the use of non degradable disposable plastic products, and promote the green transformation of plastic packaging itself.
Green package manufacture, [email protected]
