Analysis and Research on the Application of Green Food Packaging

The printing of packaging materials is another important topic for green packaging. Especially ink, it consists of pigments, binders, solvents and auxiliary materials. If the pigment contains heavy metals that are insoluble in water, such as lead, chromium, barium, mercury, etc., such ink cannot be used for printing of food packaging and children's utensils packaging. Solvents containing acetone, toluene, methanol, and some aromatics, and highly corrosive solvents should also not be used.

Water-soluble liquid photosensitive resins have been developed in Guangdong Province as early as the 1960s. They can be used to make water-based UV-varnish and water-based UV inks that cure and dry by UV irradiation. In the drying process, the UV light source can be mounted on the printing press, but the cover must be covered to prevent burns. At that time, we studied the use of a liquid resin plate black light pipe (ie, 3 to 5 agricultural germicidal lamps) as a light source, which can reduce the harm of ultraviolet light to the human body. The cost is low and the process is simple.

How food packaging companies achieve green packaging

According to the ISO14000 series of standards, food packaging companies must implement the following tasks to achieve green packaging.

1. Establish an environmental management system

The establishment of the "Environmental Management System" (EMS) is the first step for food packaging companies to go green, just as ISO 9000 requires the establishment of a "quality system." Its task is to formulate and implement environmental guidelines, plan environmental activities, and implement environmental management supervision and inspections. The core elements of the management system include the company's environmental policy, environmental planning, implementation and operation, inspection and correction, and management review. The management system will guarantee the company's goal of achieving green packaging. The environmental policy, objectives and activities planned by the company should be compatible with its own attributes, scale, production (activity), product and service impacts on the environment, and have the promise of saving resources, preventing pollution and complying with relevant laws and regulations.

2. Through environmental certification

According to the requirements of ISO14000, packaging companies must pass “environmental certification” (EA) to ensure that the company meets the requirements of ISO 14010 to 14019 standards. Quality certification focuses on the “self quality” of the product, while environmental certification focuses on the “environmental quality” of the product. For food packaging manufacturers, it is not enough to merely “save resources, reduce pollution, and recycle and reuse”. Enterprises must establish EMS and pass national certification authority certification. Some food packaging manufacturers in China have taken the lead in environmental certification.

3 packaging should have environmental signs

The environmental label (EL) is commonly referred to as the "green label." In the future, the three types of environmental labels introduced by ISO are: the type I, type II, and type III environmental signs.

The type I sign specified by ISO14000 is called "ecological sign". It is determined according to the ecological situation of each country, and therefore there will be great differences between developed and underdeveloped countries. The type II logo is an enterprise's "self-declaration" type of "information logo." Enterprises disclose their environmental policies, environmental data, and information to the public by means of labels and accept social supervision. The type III mark is the environmental “quality mark” of the product, and is marked with specific digital indicators and line segments, which is more intuitive and convenient. National government agencies will recommend products or packages with environmental labels to users or consumers.

4. Conduct Environmental Behavior Assessment (EPE)

The results are characterized by the "Environmental Behavior Index" (EPIS). The results of the evaluation will help packaging companies save resources, prevent pollution, use new technologies and new management systems, thereby taking them to a new level.

5. Life cycle assessment of packaged products

The so-called "life cycle" refers to the whole process of product (packaging) "material mining → processing and manufacturing → circulation and use → recycling → disposal" and "returning from the earth and returning to the earth", also translated as " Ecological cycle or ecological circle. To manufacture any kind of product, you must first “put in” materials, energy, and manpower, and then “output” the product. This industry "product" necessarily includes the required products and waste, excrement, etc. Therefore, ISO 14000 requires packaging companies to carry out the above-mentioned “full-process” life cycle assessment (LCA) for packaging products in order to carry out “complete process” control and adopt “zero pollution” or “clean processes” to produce “green products”. "To achieve the green packaging standards.

At present, the world attaches great importance to environmental protection work. For this reason, there are many new international specific provisions for food packaging materials. And the main goal of our packaged foods is to preserve freshness, avoid environmental pollution and have a certain degree of aesthetics. Therefore, whether it is now or in the future, the development and application of green packaging will be the theme of food packaging.

Source: Guangxi Packaging Network