Environmental packaging design is proposed for the purpose of protecting the environment, protecting the ecological balance of the earth, and protecting the earth's resources. Therefore, environmental packaging design should follow four principles:
1. International principles. It is mainly the "five major requirements" of the United Nations and the "three major principles" of the WTO. The three principles are: (1) the principle of sustainability, that is, the protection of the environment, the protection of the sharing of resources in the world, and its continuous use; (2) the principle of coordination, that is, cooperation between packaging and environmental protection and coordinated development; (3) the principle of fairness, ie, Contemporary people must consider the interests of future generations and use resources fairly.
2. In the design of environmentally friendly packaging, we must first consider the limited mineral resources, biological resources, energy resources and ecological balance of the earth. Then according to the data provided by the LCA assessment, select the appropriate packaging materials and packaging solutions. The International Organization for Standardization ISO has also proposed feasible solutions in this regard.
3. Reducing packaging waste is an important aspect of environmentally friendly packaging engineering design. When packaging “birthâ€, it is necessary to arrange the “aftercare†of the packaging waste, or to recycle it, or to process it again, so as to form a complete benign cycle of packaging waste and reduce the pollution (impact) to the environment. Packaging materials (such as adhesives, buffer foams, etc.) can be reduced, but they can be saved, and they can be replaced on the basis of generation; the packaging containers should have material identification symbols to facilitate recycling; packaging waste recycling as much as possible to reduce recycling Disposable packaging. The first three principles are actually the internationally accepted waste 3R principles.
4. Packaging Life Assessment (LCA). In the environmental protection packaging design, the assessment of the ecological life of the packaging is not only the situation but also the need for continuous production, and it is also a prerequisite for the WTO's international trade. The ISO14000 international standard expressly provides that all international trade packaging products are subject to environmental certification (EA) and ecological life assessment (LCA), and the use of environmental signs (EL), which can be seen as important.
In a word, environmental protection packaging design must pay attention to the "environment and development" of the world at the same time; secondly, it should pay attention to the impact of consumed materials and energy on the natural environment resources; and thirdly, it should pay attention to the degree of environmental impact of the waste released into the environment. Fourth, we must pay attention to the environmental costs of packaging and environmental protection to ensure the sustainable development of green economy and green packaging.