Green packaging industry at home and abroad and development ideas (2)

1. The current status of domestic and foreign industries of green packaging industry and their comparison:

(1) Paper Packaging

Paper packaging is an important part of packaging products, although it has a great impact on the environment during the manufacturing phase. However, in the construction of paper mills, developed countries have taken into account the investment in sewage treatment systems to make them meet national discharge standards, and China is the world's largest papermaking country, and its output ranks third in the world. However, most factories are small factories that cause great environmental pollution, especially in the Huaihe River Basin. Therefore, the country has closed most paper mills in the country in recent years, and has proposed to build large paper mills with a size of 100,000 tons or more. However, the scale of papermaking enterprises in developed countries is more than 100,000 tons, and 300,000 tons of papermaking are in the world.

According to statistics from 1996, the world’s paper production was 28,1968 kt, including 81,837 kt in the United States, 30013 kt in Japan, and 26,000 kt in China. The above three countries rank in the top three in the world. The top three countries in pulp production are: 58,234 tons in the United States, 24,352 tons in Canada, and 19,000 tons in China. The per capita paper consumption ranks among the top three countries in the world: 320.4 kg in Finland, 319.5 kg in the United States, and 258.1 kg in Belgium, while China ranks 30th in the world.

Taking the corrugated paper box industry with a large amount of paper as an example, the total output of corrugated boxes in the world in 1996 was 112,624 million square meters, of which 35,134 million square meters in the United States, 13,340 million square meters in Japan, and 6,669 million square meters in China (including Hong Kong). m, Germany 6264 million square meters, China (including Hong Kong) ranked third.

The paper packaging industry in foreign developed countries is very developed. The large number of shopping bags on the market are paper bags, and our paper bag industry is not well-developed. The shopping bags on the market are mainly plastic shopping bags. Paper shopping bags have developed in recent years. There is still a considerable gap with the world level.

Cement packaging is a large domestic and foreign packaging product. Due to the lack of wood resources, the strength of cement bags made of straw pulp paper is not enough. Therefore, for over ten years, the plastic substitute paper method has been vigorously promoted, making it difficult to handle a large number of waste bags, resulting in greater environmental pollution. Packed in paper bags.

Paper cups, paper trays, and paper cutlery are popular in foreign countries and have a long history of development. Replacing plastic and glass packaging products with these products is the development direction of green packaging. China's industrial development in this area is relatively late, both in terms of output and quality. In terms of varieties, there are large gaps. These gaps are mainly manifested in the production of paper and paperboard used in these products. In order to rapidly reduce this gap, several large-scale functional paperboard factories for food packaging should be established to meet domestic demand. Urgent need in this area.

Small food packaging and food paper bags have been widely used in developed countries since the 1970s. However, large-scale use in China is only a matter of recent years. This will play a significant role in the sale and use of food and food. Paper bags for small grain packaging and paper are now imported from abroad. A few small factories have also been established in recent years in China, but the output and quality are quite large compared to the world standard. difference.

Plant fiber snack lunch boxes (made of straw, wheat straw, bagasse, grain husks, etc.) have started relatively quickly in recent years and have come under a heavier market. This is a green package with Chinese characteristics and needs to be given by the government for policies and resources. Support, our research and development in this area is not far behind the world level.
Natural green material is our country's traditional packaging material. It is another green packaging product with Chinese characteristics. The natural plant and mineral resources are widely sourced and easily recycled and recycled, and do not pollute the environment. It is a true green packaging product. Although there are many advantages, due to plants carrying plant pathogens, it is easy to cause boycotts in foreign countries in terms of foreign trade. This is a major drawback that is not easily overcome. Recently, the United States Customs made a case for the wooden box packaging used for machinery and equipment exported from China and affected exports. Trade, but there is still a vast market for domestic use.

Honeycomb sandwich cardboard packaging box can replace most of the wooden boxes and produce packing boxes for heavy products. It can also make strong trays and lining pads. It can be used as a box making material with a wide range of applications. Honeycomb paper boxes are available. Packaging weights range from tens of kilograms to thousands of kilograms.

Pulp molding products have been supported by the vast number of environmentally friendly consumers since its inception, and its output is rising significantly. At present, the total world production has reached around 600,000 tons. China's pulp molding industry started relatively late and has now introduced 10 production lines from the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, and Japan. China has developed dozens of large-scale lines and dozens of small-scale lines, but its output and quality are in line with advanced foreign standards. There is still a big gap.

(2) Plastic packaging

The total annual output of global plastics is more than 100 million tons, of which 30% is used for packaging. China's plastic packaging products were 2.43 million tons for 96 years. Plastic packaging materials belong to the shortest period of use in plastic products, generally 1-3 months, the most After a year, most of them became municipal solid waste (MSW) into the garbage disposal system, and some were discarded at will, becoming “white pollution” and receiving the opposition of the government and the people.
In order to solve the "white pollution", the packaging industry at home and abroad attaches great importance to put forward a variety of treatment programs, one of which is the development and production of biodegradable plastics.

Since the 1960s, people have started to develop degradable plastics. After decades of efforts, they have made functional composite composite degradable plastic products in advanced industrialized countries.

Composite degradation is based on the current plastic resin, adding a certain amount of additives, product features: the use of additives as a culture agent for microorganisms, to achieve degradable plastic products, and the biggest drawback, still does not completely solve the "white pollution" " "Soil sand" and other fatal hazards.

Functional degradable plastics are divided into two categories: photodegradable and biodegradable: Photodegradable plastics use this plastic polymer resin for light sensitivity, absorb sunlight energy, and decompose into small molecules to achieve degradation. His fatal weakness is that when organic matter is present in organic polymers, it is often non-toxic and odorless, but once it is degraded into small molecules, its toxicity and harm to the natural environment cannot be ignored. This is actually one type of pollution instead of another.

The other type is a functional, ecologically degradable plastic that is synthesized from macromolecule secretions or things such as bacteria. Since this raw material itself is a carbon source or energy source for microorganisms, it can be absorbed by these microorganisms in the natural world without causing any pollution, and thus is truly a completely pollution-free degradable plastic. This kind of product has begun to be put on the market in foreign countries, but the technologies and processes in this area are completely confidential and are not transferable on the basis.

As mentioned above, the modification of existing plastics into additive-based degradable plastics alone cannot fundamentally address the serious environmental pollution. After decades of international research, elimination, and selection, the development direction of biodegradable biodegradable plastics based on lactic acid or hydroxybutyric acid has been determined. Just because of the expensive prices of these two raw materials, industrial production could not be achieved for quite some time. To achieve the commercial production of this type of degradable plastic that we choose, we must first reduce the price of these raw materials.

In recent years, due to the development of biotechnology, people can make use of genetic engineering methods to produce these raw materials on a large scale, thereby reducing the price of raw materials and realizing the industrialized production of this completely degradable plastic.

According to relevant information, Western Europe, North America, Japan, and South Korea have developed small batches of fully degradable plastic technology. For example, South Korea uses genetic engineering to produce fully degradable plastics. The plastics have been used as disposable packaging bags and medical materials in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, etc. However, due to its price of 1 to 16 US dollars, it is 16-20 US dollars more expensive than general plastics. Times, so it is not used universally. At present, they are using new methods to produce plastics. The price can be reduced to 1 kg for $4, which is close to the market's acceptable level. It is possible that after several years of hard work, it can be accepted by the market. Some domestic universities have already begun research and development in this area. Preliminary results have been achieved by using bio-engineering methods to produce fully degradable plastics using high-paying technologies such as radiation mutagenesis and genetic engineering. . If the state gives policy and financial support, it will be entirely possible to provide the country with agricultural film within 5 years, and fully degradable plastics for packaging and food.

(3) Metal packaging

Metal packaging is a green packaging product that is easy to recycle and reuse.
China's output in 1996 was 1.61 million tons, and its large-scale product was 200 million steel barrels. There are 14 million in Japan, 5 billion two-piece cans, around 100 billion world production, 3.5 billion three-piece cans, 3 billion canned metal cans, and 4 billion cans. The quality of the 200-liter steel drum is slightly different from the world level. The difference in the quality of special 200-liter steel drums is greater. It is important to point out that the iron (steel) stretching tank has just started in China, and there must be a large gap between the output and quality and the world level, and we should vigorously develop it. Oral iron trimming production technology Application Coil tinplate instead of sheet tinplate should be quickly used to catch up with international standards.

(4) Glass packaging

High-strength lightweight glass bottles have been comparatively manufactured and used in developed countries, but China has only recently produced 330ml, 355ml lightweight beer bottles, which should catch up with the developed countries in the world as soon as possible.

(to be continued)