Ease packaging pollution from functional design

Since the reform and opening up, the establishment of a socialist market economic system has enabled China's packaging industry to make rapid progress. In 2003, the ratio of the total output value of the packaging industry to the total output value of the national economy has risen from 1.02% in 1980 to 20%. It has played a decisive role in the national economy and has made outstanding contributions to China's economic development. Today, the packaging industry has become a sunrise industry in China with industrial advantages and broad development prospects.

First, the status quo

For a long time, the extensive and non-sustainable economic development model in China has caused the development of the packaging industry to have a negative impact on the ecological environment. The contradiction between the environment and reality has emerged day by day. The main reason is that people’s environmental awareness is weak and constitutes a The main source of pollution in the ecological environment has caused great waste of natural resources and production of energy. Although from the 1990s onwards, the relevant national functional departments proposed a strategy for sustainable development of the environment and adopted many measures to deal with the pollution of packaging. However, despite ten years’ efforts, some achievements have been made, but the governance environment is not a With regard to this, his prospects are long-term and not optimistic.

At present, China's per capita GDP has exceeded US$1,000, which indicates that it will provide great space and major strategic opportunities for the development of the packaging industry. However, GDP shows the total economic output or total economic income, but there is no sign of environmental pollution and ecological damage behind it. It can be foreseen that the in-depth development of the packaging industry will face greater opportunities while meeting opportunities. The challenge is: How much is the cost of the environment in economic development? How much environmental capital can we still pay? Humans in addition to satisfying their own desires endlessly seeking energy from the outside world to do something for the environment? Past experience shows that the environment and development Inseparable, environmental deterioration not only seriously limits the sustainable development of the economy, but also will endanger the long-term interests of mankind. Governance environment is no longer just a responsibility of a country or region, but is a problem that all humans must face.

Although the negative impact of packaging on the environment has attracted wide attention from countries around the world, and international and domestic efforts to coordinate the relationship between packaging and the environment have made many efforts, but we must also see one-sided and inadequate. Green packaging is often regarded as a one-sided understanding of the greening of packaging products. People are accustomed to using packaging products made of environmentally-degradable materials collectively referred to as green packaging, and green design is also focused on the development of environmentally friendly materials that are free from pollution, can be automatically degraded, and can be recycled and utilized. The implementation of the material design obviously tends to be the development of green packaging materials and corresponding new technologies and new processes, and is only retained at the material design level. However, the existing packaging design philosophy only focuses on packaging and decorating, in which the structure and shape are only limited to the basic functions of the packaging, and does not involve the entire life cycle of packaging products, such as production, use, recycling, etc., to consider the environment of packaging. Impact can not fully demonstrate the true meaning of "green packaging" under the concept of "green design."

Second, countermeasures

The contact point between people and the environment is the thing. The connection between people and things forms the environmental space and environmental quality. The environmental quality affects the social behavior of people and the direction of the future society. As a public hazard, packaging pollution is not a certain department or group can effectively solve a certain way. To protect the environment not only to strengthen the intensity, but also to allow it to move toward breadth, depth, and many ways to find a way out. Only to ease its pressure as soon as possible. Therefore, it is important to strengthen citizens’ quality education and raise citizens’ awareness of environmental protection so that citizens can voluntarily participate in the environmental protection business. Resolving issues from the R&D of packaging materials and recycling of packaging waste is also an important factor in ensuring sustainable development in this area; The design aspect should not be overlooked in particular.

The environmental protection design of product packaging is a response to green packaging and green design. It not only has the distinctive features of the development of packaging in the new century, but also conforms to the theme of the global packaging industry in the new century. There is no doubt that the environment is becoming more and more popular today. With the rapid development of packaging, it will take the initiative in the future packaging market. From another point of view, the sources of packaging pollution are: source of design, source of production, and source of consumption. Design is also the beginning of production and consumption. It seeks ways to relieve environmental pressure from functional design links, and advocates that design has multiple functions and has Environmentally-friendly packaging products can not only fill in the gaps in the design of green packaging products, extend the content covered by green packaging design, and enrich and improve the existing packaging design theory system, but also facilitate the transition from packaging to green and environmentally friendly packaging.

Looking for ways to mitigate environmental pollution from the functional design aspect is not a complete negation of other methods, but a useful supplement and in-depth promotion of relevant research. At present, all countries in the world have made phased progress in the research and development of environmental protection materials, but the technology is still not mature enough. This is the main reason why many scientific research achievements have been successful but cannot be quickly promoted, so that it needs to be improved when it is perfected. Pollution is an urgent and urgent problem to solve. Therefore, according to local conditions, based on the premise of existing packaging materials, production technology and machinery and equipment, certain design methods are applied to the packaging products themselves, adding green factors and environmental protection values, which are not only supported by design theory but also put into production processes. Realization of the actual transformation of scientific research achievements into productivity and the smooth transition of packaging to green packaging are the most economical and practical measures that are currently feasible. However, this undoubtedly puts a very high level of professionalism in packaging design. Claim.

First of all, for the packaging products themselves, how can the original design in terms of structure and styling expand the functions of the packaging, while having environmental protection functions without affecting the basic functions of the packaging?

Second, is there an environmentally friendly packaging product with multiple functions? Does its function have practical value and can it be accepted by the audience?
Thirdly, will the environmental protection package supported and completed by the design theory be blocked in the mass production process? Can scientific research results be directly transformed into productivity and create economic benefits?
Fourthly, whether the packaging products with environmental performance will increase the production cost and increase the economic burden of consumers due to the increase of the functions? These are the key and difficult points of the study.

Based on this, green packaging should embody the two key elements of human nature and environmental protection. The design process must always implement the principle of full use of resources, energy conservation, consumption reduction, and “people-oriented”, and strictly follow the following steps in an orderly manner: (1) Material prices, performance and appearance are comprehensively compared, analyzed and tested to achieve the best performance-price ratio among materials, packaging performance and production costs; (2) In-depth inspection of equipment, production processes, and production processes is performed in-depth for the design. Probably technical problems with the packaging engineering and technical personnel to discuss and solve, try to avoid the possible contradiction between design and production; (3) carry out detailed research on a wide variety of sales packaging in the market, so as to ensure that environmental protection packaging and market economy, Get the desired effect; (4) At the consumer's point of view, experience and explore different consumption habits, preferences, practical needs, and potential needs, and avoid the use of environmentally friendly packaging products with futility or fiction, so as to better serve the public. With these guarantees, environmental-friendly packaging design is not a matter of talking on paper, so it can achieve a multiplier effect.

Third, the method

Packaging is an integral part of the world's materialization. It is a material entity that has its origins and destinations. Products originate from the environment and are attributed to the environment. Today's products, without exception, will become tomorrow's waste. Therefore, when designing a packaging product structure, a designer must seriously consider whether a product can be reused after its end of life cycle—that is, the life cycle of the product, or whether it can be handled quickly and safely. In view of this, the design of environmental protection packaging can be carried out from the following aspects:

1. Extend the packaging function

Extensive design of packaging function refers to the design behavior that can still exert "usual value" after the package has reached the hands of the consumers in the circulation process, or it continues to have "use value". It is a combination of material elements, modeling elements, and function elements. Many factors, for the purpose of expanding packaging function, beautifying the appearance of packaging, and increasing the taste of packaging, combine arts and technology, culture and leisure to make packaging from traditional “one-time packaging” to “multi-functional packaging”. The packaging here carries more spiritual and cultural connotations. Extending the function of packaging is to dig deep into the potential role of packaging and indirectly promote its environmental protection.

2. Simplify the packaging structure

The styling principle of environmental protection packaging is the simple design, which is to simplify the shape of the packaging, and its core is the “appropriateness” of the packaging structure design. Specifically, from the perspective of rational use of resources, the design can simplify the packaging structure without affecting its physical functions, simplify the design by simplifying dispensable or cumbersome structures, and reducing unnecessary packaging materials and energy production. Consumption, thereby reducing the weight of the package, reducing transportation costs, controlling the amount of garbage in the packaging, and finding a balance between refinement and functionality, and indispensable for both aesthetics and environmental protection.

It is proposed that simplifying the packaging structure is for the packaging with complicated structure, while in the complex packaging, the gift packaging is more important, and “there is no thing is good or bad, but the person is the disaster”. Although there is no absolute standard, the so-called “excessive” and “luxury” are not absolute standards. Should also be modest. In fact, in the era of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic consciousness, there is no contradiction between the simplification of the packaging structure and the pursuit of packaging beauty. The United States itself has multiple meanings and multiple manifestations. Relying on the piled decorations to create beauty can only explain the low level of design. , And the simple and refined beauty reveals the extraordinary level of design.

3. Recyclable design

It means that in the initial stage of packaging design, factors such as the possibility of material recovery, the value of recycling value, and recycling methods are integrated into the scope of the design. By adding a crease line to the corresponding surface of the packaging, the packaging can be easily flattened and twisted. Folding reduces the size, saves space, facilitates concentration, facilitates sorting, facilitates circulation of packaging waste, and enhances the environmental protection of packaging. To achieve this, in addition to having a solid professional quality, a clever idea, and a unique idea, it is only necessary to replace the molds on the existing machinery and equipment, and it is possible to arbitrarily produce compressed containers of various specifications and shapes, and the production cost will not be reduced accordingly. A substantial increase. Although the design of recyclable structures is only an idea at the moment, we have reason to believe that as long as we have established this awareness and are working hard in this direction, this vision is achievable.

Fourth, prospects

1. Economic benefits

The survey data in recent years shows that among various wastes in large and medium-sized cities, the proportion of packaging waste is 15% of its total weight and 25% of the total volume; 70% of plastic packaging is after one-time use. Discarded, it is difficult to recycle and accounted for 30%, paper packaging recovery rate will not exceed 20%, the recovery rate of metal and glass is slightly higher, if the comprehensive statistics of various packaging waste, according to the material price The conversion will be shocking. Therefore, from the perspective of the study in this paper, extending the packaging function is conducive to extend the cycle of packaging, improve its utilization, and extend the life cycle of the packaging from 3 times to 5 times; the recyclability of the packaging design, can be Packing volume is reduced to 1/5, reducing the space occupied will greatly reduce the cost of transportation and sorting; and simplifying the structure of the package will save materials, reduce costs, reduce weight, thus saving production and transportation expenses. This shows that