"Low-carbonization" Will Become the Main Theme of Future Convenience Food Packaging

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made arrangements for "actively and prudently promoting carbon peaking and carbon neutrality". "Low-carbonization" has become the only way for the high-quality development of the convenience food industry. In order to further promote the green and sustainable development of the convenience food industry, the "Green Development of Convenience Foods" seminar of the Flour Products Branch of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology was recently held in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Attending experts and enterprise representatives held in-depth discussions on the exploration and application of green packaging for convenience foods, jointly seeking innovative solutions for green packaging and eco-friendly packaging materials, and offering suggestions and advice for convenience foods to achieve their carbon reduction goals.

Environmental Pressure Mounts: Plastic Pollution Control Is Urgent

While plastics bring convenience to humanity, they also bring trouble. Data show that more than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, one third of which is used only once — equivalent to 2,000 garbage trucks fully loaded with plastic dumping plastic into rivers, lakes and seas every day, and plastic food-contact materials are certainly among them.

"Producing 1 tonne of plastic requires consuming 3 tonnes of crude oil. China is the world's largest plastic producer and consumer, with plastic consumption reaching 80 million tonnes and annual crude oil consumption of 240 million tonnes." Jin Zhengyu, professor at the School of Food Science of Jiangnan University and vice chairman of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, frankly stated that in addition to huge resource consumption, plastics also affect the climate and bring environmental pollution.

According to Jin Zhengyu, convenience food packaging materials currently mostly use petroleum-based materials such as PP, PE and PET, with incineration as the main end-of-life treatment, and greenhouse gases are emitted at every stage of the plastic life cycle, including the extraction and transportation of fossil fuels, the refining and manufacturing of plastics, and the incineration of plastic waste. In addition, once waste plastic enters the environment it produces a lasting impact; plastic degradation takes 400-500 years, and careless disposal easily leads to ecological disaster.

Attending experts pointed out that the control of plastic pollution is already urgent. As early as January 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution", proposing that by 2025 the management systems for the production, circulation, consumption and recycling and disposal of plastic products would be basically established, and a multi-party co-governance system basically formed. On June 20 this year, the "Measures for the Administration of the Use and Reporting of Single-use Plastic Products by Operators in the Commercial Sector" officially came into force, proposing to prohibit and restrict by law the use of non-degradable plastic bags and other single-use plastic products.

Liu Haoyu, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology and vice chairman of its Flour Products Branch, reminded that the green development of convenience foods must solve the plastic problem, but must not fall into the misunderstanding that "plastic is the root of all evil" and demonize plastic. In fact, plastic plays an important role in production and daily life; it is only because recycling and treatment are inadequate that pollution problems arise. "Finding solutions to the plastic problem — making plastic degradable, recyclable and incinerable, and achieving carbon neutrality — is the fundamental way to solve the problem."

The Future Is Promising: Huge Potential for Green Packaging Material Development

In recent years, with the rise of the "stay-at-home economy", "meals for one" and "cooking novices", consumer perception has changed. Convenience foods have won recognition from more and more consumers with advantages such as being delicious, safe and convenient, and their market share has continued to expand. Data show that in 2022 the convenience food market exceeded 450 billion yuan, up 25% year on year, and the market size is expected to break through one trillion yuan by 2025. "Attracted by the vast market space, convenience food packaging has also stood at the forefront. If the convenience food market reaches an annual volume of 3 trillion yuan in the future, the packaging demand generated by it could reach a scale of 100 billion yuan." Jin Zhengyu said.

Bio-based packaging uses annually renewable natural biomass materials as its main raw material and can replace traditional petroleum-based resins, which is conducive to the sustainable development of society and helps achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Data show that each tonne of petroleum-based plastic replaced is equivalent to saving 3.3 tonnes of crude oil.

"When consumers currently choose products, in addition to considering the product's packaging, brand and taste, green consumption concepts such as environmental protection, burden reduction and sustainability will also influence consumer behavior to a certain extent." Liu Haoyu believes that green packaging is one of the important measures to improve the ecological environment, and consumers today are more appreciative of enterprises that adopt green packaging.

Sustainable product packaging has become a key element of the convenience food industry's practice of "low-carbonization". At present, relevant universities and enterprises are targeting the application of green packaging materials in the convenience food field and carrying out exploration, and have already achieved certain results.

Convenience foods are divided into four types: ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook and ready-to-assemble. Each type of food has different characteristics and different packaging requirements. From vacuum laminated film packaging to bio-based multi-layer co-extruded high-barrier film packaging, from instant noodle cups/vermicelli cups to bio-based high-temperature-resistant meal bowls/boxes, from self-heating food packaging to bio-based self-heating pots, from chilled and frozen packaging to bio-based freeze-resistant trays... "Green food packaging is gradually upgrading while meeting practical requirements." Jin Zhengyu said.

The safety issue that consumers care about most is also the link that the industry values most. "On the one hand, the raw materials of the products are safe and traceable, and bio-based materials must meet food-contact standards when used as food-contact materials; on the other hand, combining the application needs of downstream customers, risk assessments are conducted on the products to ensure the safety of the products in contact with food." Zhi Zhaohui, chairman of Jiangsu Longjun Environmental Protection Industrial Development Co., Ltd., said that in order to adapt to the international trend of green development and the consumer philosophy of sustainable development, the company has long adhered to a whole-life-cycle ecological design philosophy of replacing materials and reducing volume at the source, saving energy and reducing consumption in the process, and reducing emissions and harm at the end, exploring a closed loop from the design end to the production end to the disposal end, actively promoting the application of green packaging in the industry, continuously advancing the resolution of environmental protection issues, and empowering the development of convenience foods.

Takayuki Yagi, deputy director of development at Nissin Foods (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., took the replacement of packaging materials for the company's "Cup Noodle" brand and the extension of the shelf life of several convenience food products as examples to share the company's specific actions to reduce the burden on the environment, and proposed establishing a sustainability committee. "In its daily business, the Nissin Foods Group carries out practices that conform to social ethics, is committed to protecting the global environment, and reduces the environmental burden through the product life cycle." Takayuki Yagi said.

Pilot First: A "Green Whirlwind" Sweeps Through Convenience Food Packaging

At present, various bio-based packaging materials are constantly emerging in convenience foods, but at the implementation end there are quite a few "troubles", including high costs, doubts about safety, and low consumer awareness.

Zeng Wenjie, senior project specialist for sustainable food consumption and green supply chains at the World Wide Fund for Nature, suggested that enterprises formulate development goals according to their own circumstances, find the right focus, refine measures, and coordinate upstream and downstream to improve their sustainability level; starting from developing one or two single products, gradually expanding, piloting first, and progressively improving the development path to ultimately reach the ideal state. Ye Shengyong, a researcher at the instant noodle R&D center of Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp., suggested that enterprises strengthen R&D on the technical side to further control costs.

Liu Haoyu said that building green food packaging science popularization and education bases, telling the story of green packaging materials well, and actively communicating and interacting with consumers are feasible strategies for raising consumer awareness. Wang Yajun, director of the development department of Nissin Foods (China) Investment Co., Ltd., held the same view. He said that consumers now have increasingly high requirements for food and pay increasing attention to plastic pollution, but the voice on eco-friendly food packaging materials is very weak, and suggested combining the two to create a dedicated "eco-friendly window" and carry out environmental protection publicity and science popularization activities to attract more consumer attention.

Adopting green packaging and reducing plastic pollution to drive the "green whirlwind" in convenience food packaging cannot be achieved without the push from enterprises. "The replacement of green packaging materials requires a developmental perspective and forward-looking concepts, and leading enterprises must have the responsibility and commitment to lead the industry forward; enterprises should also be mindful of potential dangers in times of safety, look to the future, and build up technical reserves in advance for unexpected needs." Liu Haoyu pointed out that whether out of corporate social responsibility or to address the pain points of the industry's future sustainable development, leading enterprises should take action in promoting the application of eco-friendly packaging materials.

"Last year, Tingyi made a sugar-free tea that achieved carbon neutrality, and previously it had also specially created a "label-free PET bottle" to practice the low-carbon concept, reducing the amount of packaging materials used." He Qiang, a researcher at the instant noodle R&D center of Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp., said that in addition to the application of single materials, degradable materials still have more possibilities and room for imagination in the production and use of composite material packaging.

"As a member of the food industry, convenience foods put safeguarding consumers' food safety first." Sun Ruiyu, manager of the food safety center of Jinmailang Food Co., Ltd., said that sustainability, green environmental protection and low carbon are directions the company has always focused on, and that green eco-friendly packaging materials for convenience foods must be used on the premise of ensuring food safety; if food safety cannot be ensured, no matter how eco-friendly the material is, it is meaningless.

"Although bio-based materials are more eco-friendly and healthier, I had previously always had concerns about whether bio-based materials are truly safe. Through the exchanges and discussions at the meeting, this worry of mine was dispelled." Cui Guochun, product manager of Kemen Noodle Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said that the cost of bio-based materials is currently much higher, and there is a contradiction between the cost of eco-friendly materials and the concept of environmental protection. As a product manager, when doing overall product design, he would coordinate the two well to make products more environmentally friendly.

"Now that people's living standards have improved, consumption has shifted from 'eating enough' to 'eating well', and is accelerating the transition to 'eating nutritiously and healthily'. Green packaging is an important part of this." Li Liwei, purchasing supervisor of auxiliary materials at Jinshahe Flour Industry Co., Ltd., said that focusing on green packaging is preparation for the future, and he believes that as long as enterprises use it properly and publicize it well to consumers, the development of green packaging will come naturally, and Jinshahe will also continue to follow the development of green packaging.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379435.html