Packing humanity and greening in developed countries

According to its different roles in the distribution process, packaging can be divided into transportation packaging and sales packaging. Transport packaging is to protect the goods from damage; in addition to the protection of the goods, the sales packaging also has a promotion function. In recent years, the packaging of developed countries, in addition to the above basic functions, has also emerged some new features and development trends that deserve attention.

Packaging methods highlight "humanization"

The "humanized" packaging concept of developed countries is becoming more and more prominent in the packaging provisions, which can be seen from the following two aspects.

First of all, the "impact on human health" factors is becoming more and more important in packaging materials and packaging design. The requirements for the selection of types of packaging materials and their chemical components for foods and agricultural products are becoming higher and higher. Not only are they required to meet the requirements of impact resistance, non-toxicity, protection from light, leakage, prolonged transportation, etc., but also packaging is required to enable packaging. Preservation, shelf life, and no chemical effects on food and agricultural products themselves. For some products that may cause harm to the human body, some developed countries require sufficient tips on packaging design.

For example, the European Parliament has passed an ordinance that stipulates that at least 30% of the area in front of each packet of cigarette packs should be covered by some general warning before September 2003, covering at least 40% of the back with a special warning. area. A general warning includes information about two rotations -- "smoking harms people" and "smoking seriously damages the health of you and those around you." The special warning of rotation must be selected from 14 messages, including "Smoking may be possible Causes chronic and painful deaths," "Smoking may destroy sperm and reduce fertility." Warnings must be printed in the official language of the member where the cigarette is sold. If a country has more than one official language, health warnings must be able to accommodate more text.

Second, both in terms of sales packaging requirements and transport packaging legislation, the “humanized” colors have become increasingly concentrated. For example, developed countries advocate designing packaging products based on family conditions and social characteristics.

German society tends to be aging. Therefore, it is necessary to design easily and easily recognizable packaging for the elderly.

American parents encourage their children to try various novelties. Therefore, the lighter packaging exported to the United States must be designed with a secret lock to prevent children from accidentally being burned while playing a lighter.

The Australian trade unions stipulate that workers have the right to refuse requests to carry over 25 kilograms of goods by hand. My export company once had insufficient knowledge of this provision and was rejected by the importer's warehouse worker when the freight arrived at the delivery of the other company. If this happened in China, it might be “rewarding a reward, and there must be a courageous man” and find other migrant workers to carry it. However, it is difficult to find workers in Australia to transport such so-called “non-humanized packaging items” because insurance companies in the country do not pay compensation for work injuries caused by handling heavy objects. Therefore, in the end, my company could only re-employ workers to dismantle the packaging and reinstall it. The resulting increase in packaging costs and late delivery penalties caused the company to suffer heavy losses.

In order to avoid similar losses and disputes, we must pay full attention to the “humanized” packaging concepts and legislation of developed countries, and exercise caution in the selection of packaging materials and packaging specifications.

".Green" packaging is available

In today's world, people are increasingly aware of the importance of environmental protection. Reflecting the principle of '4R+ 1D', that is, low consumption, recyclable, recycled, recycled and degradable 'green' packages, will undoubtedly become the mainstream of international packaging. This can be seen in the packaging legislation of the developed countries and the recent popularity of environmental signs.

In the United States, as early as 1988, 21 states issued a total of 2,332 decrees restricting and prohibiting the use of certain plastic packaging products.

Since 1991, the Italian government has banned the use of non-degradable plastic grocery bags in its territory.

The EU promulgated regulations on packaging and waste in 1992. Starting from January 2000, the market cleared all packaging materials that could not be reused or could not be recycled.

In October 1996, Germany promulgated and implemented a circular economy law in accordance with the principle of the burden on polluters. It also imposes environmental taxes on those who use hard-to-degrade plastic packaging.

Denmark prohibits the use of disposable beer and beverage containers, and prohibits the import of such container-packed beer and beverages.

These practices are examples of the "green" packaging of developed countries. The emergence of environmental labels is a typical example of this trend. The so-called environmental label is a graphic mark that is printed or pasted on the product or package. It means that the product not only conforms to the standard of quality, but also meets the environmental protection requirements in the process of production, use, consumption and disposal, and has no ecological environment and human health. Damages are conducive to the regeneration and recycling of resources. Environmental signs are also called "green" signs or ecological signs. More and more consumers welcome and purchase products with “environmental signs”, which indicates that “green packaging” will become the theme of the global packaging industry in the new century, and will also become a distinctive feature of the development of the packaging industry in developed countries. one.

"Ballery": The Alternative Role of Packaging

In some developed countries, packaging is also used as a “barrier” to restrict the import of goods. In the increasingly fierce trade competition, some countries have found that using commodity packaging and labeling standards, laws and regulations to set technical barriers, increase the difficulty of cost and technical burden, this is more subtle and sometimes more effective than directly limiting the import of goods.

The United States is a "standard" big country with more than 50,000 standards including technical regulations and government procurement rules, etc. There are more than 40,000 standards set by private standards bodies, professional societies, industry associations, etc. Including some common industry standards. In addition to requiring importers to meet the HAC and ISO 9000 series of standards, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also added new regulations from time to time, such as requiring that most food packaging must indicate the content of at least 14 nutrients, only in this The leading U.S. manufacturers are spending an additional $1.05 billion each year for this purpose. It is thus possible to imagine the cost pressures of exporters in other backward countries, especially in countries that do not have food composition analysis, which is undoubtedly the measure to prevent imports.

Reprinted from: China Packaging Industry