Plastic packaging to be "fired"?

Brands are now under increasing public pressure to move away from plastic packaging and explore alternatives that consumers consider more environmentally friendly.
If you currently use plastic packaging materials, switching to alternatives may pose a number of problems from an environmental and practical standpoint.Brian Lodge, Berry Global's design manager, said: "At Berry, we speak to a number of people who have done their homework on alternative packaging, and even though they don't have a suitable alternative packaging for their products, they are under tremendous pressure to get rid of plastic.Putting the blame on a material is a simple solution, but plastic is not the only problem, and a blanket ban would only divert the problem."
Consumers are strongly calling for the end of plastic packaging in stores, but this may actually be harmful to the environment, as many materials that are considered more environmentally friendly may actually be more damaging to the environment.Although glass can be completely and widely recycled, it is much heavier than plastic and therefore causes more pollution in terms of transport.From a practical point of view, changing the way the product is packaged will also bring great risks to the manufacturer.Even small changes can ripple through the production process.
Have the advantages of plastic packaging been neglected?
To understand and solve the plastic problem, we must analyze the advantages and disadvantages of plastic packaging.In Europe alone, 24.7 million tons of plastic packaging were produced in 2018.The number is so high because plastic offers unparalleled advantages as a packaging material.
The advantages of plastic packaging
● Plastic is light - the 750ml bottle used with Garcon Wines weighs just 63g, 87% less than a normal glass bottle.This reduces shipping costs and improves customer availability.
● Plastic is resource efficient - about half of the energy used to produce the original plastic is used as an alternative material.Although plastic is a by-product of the oil industry, it consumes only 4 percent of global oil production.
● Plastic is cheap to produce - easy to package and distribute, reducing consumer spending.
● Plastic is an excellent barrier material - food packaged in plastic extends its shelf life during transport and storage, helping to reduce food waste.
Plastic packaging is now widely used in global supply chains for food, beverages, household products and consumer goods.Applying viable alternatives while continuing to meet consumer needs is an extraordinarily complex task.As a result, demand for plastic continues to grow, with global plastic waste likely to rise from 260 million tons in 2016 to 460 million tons in 2030.Solving this problem correctly requires careful consideration of the design, use, disposal and collection of plastics.The global recycling rate for plastic packaging is extremely low.Only 20 per cent of all plastic waste was recycled in 2015, so we need to take steps to ensure that all scrap plastic is collected, recycled and reused rather than allowing it to accumulate in landfills or the natural environment.
In theory, all plastic can be recycled.In practice, however, very little plastic is actually recycled due to the limitations of recycling facilities and problems separating multiple layers of material.There are three basic rules to follow when designing for recyclability:
1. Use a single material -- multiple layers of plastic are difficult to recycle and most home recycling programs don't recycle them.
2. Use natural plastic instead of colored plastic -- adding color affects recycling;The resale value of nonferrous plastics is also low, making them less attractive to commercial recycling services.
3. Use widely recycled materials such as PET, polyethylene, and polypropylene, and avoid materials with low recycling rates, such as polystyrene, PVC, and ABS.Creating a pure flow of recyclable plastic waste will improve the overall quality of PCR, enabling companies to use a higher proportion of PCR in new products.Recently, Mitsubishi Chemical and a packaging material manufacturer have developed a plastic bag that degrades in seawater and takes only a year to degrade completely, contributing to the reduction of plastic waste in the ocean.
As we have seen, socially responsible companies want to do their part to help protect the environment.