Circular Economy Boosts the High-Quality Development of the Packaging Industry

Low-carbon Development: Accelerating the Green Transformation and Upgrading of the Packaging Industry

The packaging industry is a service-oriented manufacturing industry closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and it holds a pivotal position in national economic development. In 2022, there were more than 9,800 packaging enterprises above the designated size nationwide, completing operating revenue of RMB 1.23 trillion; total profits reached more than RMB 63 billion, down 14% year on year; total exports reached USD 5 billion, up 12% year on year; total imports reached USD 14 billion, down 15% year on year.

Zhu Liyang, President of the China Association of Circular Economy, pointed out that achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is an intrinsic requirement for promoting high-quality development, and that the packaging industry, as an important part of the modern industrial system, should actively implement the national strategic deployment of "advancing green development", take developing the circular economy as a lever, develop a green packaging industry and promote the high-quality development of the packaging industry, which is of great significance. Zhu Liyang believes that the high-quality development of the packaging industry plays an important supporting role in the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. The packaging industry has considerable potential for pollution and carbon reduction; relevant data show that China's annual consumption of packaging materials is about 30 million tonnes, and packaging waste accounts for 30%–40% of the volume of municipal solid waste. Therefore, downstream consumer goods companies should work with upstream packaging manufacturers to explore green packaging solutions, strive to build a full-lifecycle green development system for packaging covering materials, design and other links, and promote the high-quality development of the packaging industry.

Xie Li'an, a second-level inspector of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, made the following suggestions. First, promote innovative development. Cultivate innovation entities, focus on key technologies, and continue to carry out independent innovation; enterprises should increase investment and strengthen the building of technology centres and innovation teams. Second, strengthen green development. Reinforce the concept of green development and give full play to the role of packaging enterprises as a bridge and guide in promoting moderate packaging and innovative, rational consumption. Third, restrict excessive packaging in all its forms and promote the green transformation of production and lifestyles. At present, GB 23350-2021 "Requirements for Limiting Excessive Packaging of Commodities — Food and Cosmetics" has been issued, and it is hoped that the packaging industry will further implement the related work.

Fourth, implement the "three products" strategy: packaging plays an important role in the circulation of goods, and the development of the consumer goods industry will drive the development of the packaging industry. The packaging industry should continue to implement the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation and Development of China's Packaging Industry", organise "three products" actions to increase the variety of packaging products, improve the quality of packaging products and cultivate packaging product brands, thereby promoting the high-quality development of the entire packaging industry.

Yuan Huanming, a second-level inspector of the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission, pointed out that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangsu Province supported an average annual economic growth of 6.3% with an average annual energy consumption growth of 1.6%, and the comprehensive utilisation rate of general industrial bulk solid waste remained above 95%. As green packaging moves from concept to practice, the green packaging industry is not only closely related to people's daily lives but also of great significance for achieving the "dual carbon" goals and the circular economy. Next, the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission will increase support for innovation, encourage enterprises to carry out independent R&D and the commercialisation of results, cultivate a group of green packaging enterprises with international influence, and promote sound integration in the packaging field.

Xu Mingtao, Deputy Director of the Military-Civilian Integration Office of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, mentioned that advancing the circular economy is an important direction for China's economic development and one of the effective ways to achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. As an important part of the circular economy, green packaging can not only effectively reduce resource consumption and energy waste but also effectively protect the environment and improve the ecology. Next, Suzhou will strengthen technological innovation, continuously improve the quality and technological content of green low-carbon products, strengthen exchanges and cooperation between domestic and foreign enterprises, encourage enterprises to carry out their own certification and brand building, promote the green transformation and upgrading of the packaging industry, and enhance the market influence and competitiveness of green packaging.

Improving Standards to Advance Green Packaging Certification and the Construction of a Recycling System

In the keynote speech session, several experts from the China Association of Circular Economy, the Resources and Environment Research Branch of the China National Institute of Standardization, and the Tsinghua Suzhou Institute for Environmental Innovation shared their views on the transformation and development of green packaging and the improvement of the green manufacturing system.

Zhao Kai, Executive Vice President of the China Association of Circular Economy, said that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the foundations of packaging industry development became more solid, the overall structure was optimised at an accelerating pace, innovation capacity continued to strengthen and overall quality improved steadily. Facing challenges such as the complex and volatile international environment and the growing market squeeze from intensifying global competition, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period it is necessary to focus on developing green packaging materials, promoting green packaging design, building green supply chains and implementing green production actions, deepening the construction of the green packaging certification system and recycling system, and carrying out green demonstration projects, so as to practise the concept of circular economy development, guide the green transformation and innovation of the industry and help make economic and social development greener and more low-carbon.

Lin Ling, Director of the Resources and Environment Research Branch of the China National Institute of Standardization, stressed that standards are a basic tool for green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading and a binding means to achieve energy-saving and carbon-reduction goals. Lin Ling gave a comprehensive overview of areas including the construction and improvement of the green and low-carbon standardisation system, the construction of the dual-carbon standard and measurement system, the green product evaluation and certification system, and key tasks for accelerating the standardisation of green express packaging.

She said that next, the China National Institute of Standardization will implement the requirements of the National Standardisation Development Outline and the Outline for Building a Quality Power, establish and improve the green packaging standards system, and carry out key actions such as the "dual carbon" standards foundation-strengthening action, the action to upgrade 100 energy-saving and carbon-reduction standards, the action to lead with low-carbon frontier technology standards, and international cooperation actions on green and low-carbon standards, so as to support policy implementation and serve market demand. The industry needs to strengthen basic standardisation capacity building, and also needs more industry organisations, enterprises and R&D institutions to participate together to form high-quality standards, thereby driving the high-quality development of the industry.

Yao Xin, Vice President of the Tsinghua Suzhou Institute for Environmental Innovation, pointed out that as a major manufacturing country, China's energy-related carbon emissions from manufacturing and construction account for the highest proportion from a consumption perspective. The consumption side is the enduring driving force for carbon reduction in all major fields, while the supply side is the fundamental way to achieve carbon reduction for all; consumption-side management should also be made an important part of urban carbon emission reduction. He said that green consumption plays a very important transmission role and that a green supply chain based on the full product lifecycle should be built.

Ding Xiangbin, Deputy Director of the Green Development Research Centre of the Tsinghua Suzhou Institute for Environmental Innovation, said that the product carbon footprint is an indispensable part of an enterprise's construction and management of a green supply chain, and also an important tool for measuring green production, responding to green trade barriers and leading green consumption trends. Judging from Suzhou's practical experience in green consumption, the demand side should have effective government guidance, active corporate action, comprehensive social mobilisation and broad public participation, while the supply side needs to deeply integrate green concepts across the full cycle and the entire chain in order to establish a multi-dimensional green consumption pattern.

Actively Practising: Many Companies Launch Sustainable Packaging Solutions

The forum also featured specialised sub-forums on "Brand Leadership Boosting Green Development", "Innovation Driving High-Quality Industrial Development" and "Typical Circular Economy Model Cases", where representatives of brand companies and experts gave speeches.

Sui Jinguo, Vice President of Quality and Supply Chain for China at Haleon, said that by reducing carbon emissions, designing sustainable packaging, sustainably sourcing reliable materials and reducing waste and water use, the company incorporates green emission reduction into brand building, produces low-carbon goods, carries out low-carbon marketing and implements low-carbon logistics to fulfil its sustainable development commitment. It is understood that to achieve its goal of "100% recyclable cartons for all its brand product packaging by 2025", the company currently uses technical measures such as "removal of shrink film from shrink-wrapped bundles" and "plastic reduction in outer packaging", starting from sustainable packaging design to reduce carbon emissions across the entire packaging lifecycle and promote the recycling and regeneration of post-consumer packaging waste.

Du Huanzheng, Director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Circular Economy at Tongji University, believes that although the packaging industry is relatively small in scale, packaging is crucial in product use, sales, transport and storage. Du Huanzheng pointed out that against the background of the "dual carbon" goals and plastic pollution control, the use of reusable express boxes can effectively control waste generation throughout the whole process and reduce the carbon emissions brought by single-use packaging materials, thereby achieving the goals of lowering costs, controlling flows, reducing plastics and saving energy and cutting carbon. He said that promoting reusable express boxes requires policy support and the combination of innovations in loading/unloading and recovery and cleaning technologies with business models. Pilots should first be expanded, and problems identified, solved and experience summarised during the pilot process, so as to form a replicable and promotable model and drive the development of the reusable express box industry.

Xia Xiaohui, Director of Packaging Paper Business Development at UPM (China) Co., Ltd., explained that fibre-based materials, as one of the important materials for achieving plastic reduction in sustainable packaging, have complete and systematic practical applications in lifecycle assessment, but it is still necessary to reasonably assess the application effects of fibre-based materials and processes in packaging plastic reduction according to application scenarios and the different characteristics of packaging, and then continuously summarise and promote circular economy models suitable for functional fibre-based materials.

—This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379426.html