Green Packaging Design Phase Study

Abstract: The environmental pollution caused by packaging waste seriously affects the sustainable development of social economy. Therefore, how to effectively control the pollution of packaging and fully promote green packaging has become a public concern. However, there are still some misunderstandings in China's basic concept of packaging design. Therefore, as designers and leaders of social development, designers must carry out research and design of green packaging in stages according to the actual situation.

Keywords: green packaging improvement packaging redesign packaging concept innovation

The revolution in science and technology not only brought about rapid development for social productivity, but also created tremendous material wealth for mankind. At the same time, it also created unprecedented destructive power and caused serious pollution to the environment. The packaging industry is one of the important industries that cause pollution. At present, the annual output of packaging in our country is about 30 million tons. While the recycling of packaging products in China is better than that of cartons, beer bottles, and plastic turnover boxes, the recovery rate of other products is quite low, and the recycling rate of the entire packaging product is still less than the total. 20% of production. According to this calculation, there are more than 25 million tons of packaging waste produced each year in China. It occupies approximately 1/3 of the city's fixed waste in terms of weight, while it occupies 1/2 of its volume, and its emissions increase at a rate of 10% per year. Environmental pollution caused by packaging waste seriously affects the sustainable development of the social economy. Therefore, how to effectively control the pollution of packaging and fully promote green packaging has become a public concern. The concept of green packaging was proposed in the 1980s. It refers to packages that can be recycled, reused, or degraded, and that will not cause harm to the human body and the environment during the entire life cycle of the product. Green packaging can maximize the use of resources and energy, minimize the impact of packaging on the environment, or completely eliminate pollution. It not only meets the needs of international environmental protection trends, but also caters to the new wave of green marketing worldwide. The important part of green design and management in green products. What is even more direct is that it is conducive to Chinese products rushing out of the green barriers to international trade and improving the economic efficiency and international competitiveness of enterprises. It is an important measure for China to implement a sustainable development strategy.

However, there are still some misunderstandings in China's basic concept of packaging design. It is believed that product packaging design is only an important means to arouse the desire of consumers to purchase and to promote the economic benefits of commodity sales. Under the influence of this concept, there have been a lot of packaging designs that only care about the immediate interests. Designers have little or no consideration of the impact of effective resource recycling and packaging on the ecological environment. In addition, the industrialization level of China's packaging industry is still low, the use of packaging and recycling and processing systems are imperfect, and management tools are scarce. In addition, in the minds of most consumers, the understanding of green packaging is not comprehensive enough, there are some one-sided or misunderstood, such as: "The use of environmentally degradable materials made of packaging products is green packaging," and even put forward a comprehensive "paper to replace plastic." Slogan. Designers as planners and leaders of social development not only need to accurately capture and understand the inconvenience and desire of producers and consumers, but also solve problems in the face of problems. It must also have the concept of a forward-looking vision and a holistic whole. It should be seen that the design must not only consider a single enterprise and individual product, but must be considered as an integral part of the entire social system. It cannot be given to the system. The other components of the system bring harm and burden and reduce the efficiency of the social system. As far as the current situation is concerned, we must carry out research and design of green packaging in stages according to the actual situation. According to the development and trend of packaging design after 1990, green packaging design innovation can be divided into three stages.

Phase 1: Packaging improvement refers to the adjustment and improvement of products in use from the perspective of pollution prevention and care for the environment.

In essence, both the packaging itself and the production technology are maintained at this stage. The main improvements are

1 Select appropriate materials to reduce the use of harmful environmental materials, such as toxic substances, cause pollution, and not easily decompose;
2 Less or no added raw material additives harmful to the human body or the environment;
3 Reduce the discharge of waste water and waste gas during the packaging production process;
4 Select the most appropriate waste treatment method, identify different types of materials in the package, and perform recovery, purification, degradation and other work according to the categories;
5 Establish a sense of responsibility in the use, reuse, and disposal of packaging, and guide users to make a good classification;
6 Develop more advanced technologies to degrade or re-use non-biodegradable chemical wastes such as plastic instead of landfill and incineration.

Phase 2: Packaging redesign means that the concept of packaging does not change, but a certain part of the packaging is further designed or replaced by other packaging. Packaging design at this stage has four major goals:

First, increase the use of non-toxic substances;
Second, increase dismantling and recycling;
Third, increase the use of packaging and the remaining raw materials;
Fourth, reduce energy consumption during each life cycle of packaging.

In order to achieve these four goals, to truly develop green packaging from the perspective of design, the government must first formulate mandatory policy standards and formulate specific and explicit data standards for packaging in terms of environmental protection, resource regeneration, and harmlessness to the human body. The whole process of design and production should be monitored in real time, which also requires the implementation of relevant policies and regulations. Second, the government should increase investment in energy conservation, resource materials, and environmental protection technologies. Once again, large-scale publicity campaigns should be conducted. Officials, citizens, businesses, and corporate designers are responsible for carrying out various forms of publicity and education related to environmental protection issues, raising people’s awareness of environmental protection and enabling people to understand the current situation of the environment, resources, and energy. Increase the sense of crisis. In this process, the designer must establish a design standard with a successful and excellent design - green packaging design. Mainly take the following approach:

1 Use recycled materials and recyclable materials as much as possible;
2 Minimize the combination of different materials;
3 Commodity packaging should be easy to operate;
4 Ensure user safety
5 Increase user satisfaction;
6 Consider how packaging is used and how to handle it after use;
7 easy to identify different types of materials in the package, such as using different colors or textures;
8 to simplify the packaging structure and avoid excessive packaging;
9 Consider using the package repeatedly, or use it after completing the packaging function;
10 Study edible food packaging using food as raw material;
11 Packaging can be modularized and detachable;
12 Attached printed materials that are easily separated from the packaging material when used for recycling.
13 To consider the advantages and disadvantages of local waste management, and apply it appropriately to design ideas such as packaging collection, recycling, and reuse;

Stage 3: Packaging Concept Innovation refers to a brand-new understanding of the concept of packaging. At this stage, the way the packaging functions has changed. In order to better understand this issue, first of all, let us review the purpose of the packaging: make the goods have a shell that matches their content when they are transported and sold. It has a good technical design to protect and characterize the complete quality of the product, and it is also good Visual design effects to ensure the smooth sales of goods. Under this premise, in order to meet the requirements of green design, the concept of packaging will be changed. At this time, the packaging design entered the period of dematerialization. In the information society such as "based on the provision of services and non-material products of society," the design of the material was changed to non-material design, and the design of packaging was changed to the design of services. The product and its packaging are used by the household only to enjoy its function, and it is not necessary to have this item, all of which is owned by the producer, and the user is to purchase his right to use, that is, not to buy the commodity but its service. Ultimately, the producer is responsible for decomposition and reuse, and the unusable parts are regenerated.

Therefore, commodities are basically redefined as not for use but for use. This requires the manufacturing industry to fundamentally change the business model. In this way, the efficiency of resource and energy recovery and recycling rate have been greatly improved and sustainable development has been achieved. With the human society from the agricultural society to the industrial society to the present information society, human beings are getting farther from nature and resources are becoming scarce. People have realized the value of a harmonious and complete world and the sustainable development of human society. With great imperatives for implementation, green packaging is an extremely important part of this process of establishing a healthy living environment for humans. Generation after generation of designers will dedicate their wisdom and sweat to them.





Source: Cao Junjun, School of Design, Jiangnan University