Definition of Green Packaging Concept and Legal Characteristics (II)

2. LCA (Life Cycle Accessment) Theory

The life cycle assessment method. Life cycle assessment is an objective process that evaluates the pressure on products, production processes, and activities on the environment. It seeks to improve the environmental impact and how to use this opportunity through the use of energy and materials, and the impact of waste emissions on the environment. This assessment runs through the entire life cycle of products, processes, and activities, including the extraction and processing of raw materials; product manufacturing, transportation, and sales; the use, reuse, and maintenance of products; waste recycling and final waste disposal. The basic structure of life cycle assessment can be summarized as four organic links (see Figure 4): defining goals and scope; inventory analysis; impact accessibility and improvement assessment.

Defining goals and determining scope is the first step in LCA. Defining goals clearly explains the purpose and reason of this LCA and its possible application areas. The scope of the study should be determined to satisfy the purpose of the study, including defining the system under study, determining the boundaries of the system, specifying the data requirements, indicating important assumptions and limitations, etc.

Inventory analysis is a data-based, objective quantification of the energy and raw material requirements for a product, process, and activity over its entire life cycle, as well as emissions to the environment (exhaust gas, wastewater, solid waste, and other environmental emissions). process. The impact assessment is the quantitative or qualitative evaluation of the environmental impact pressure identified at the inventory stage, that is, the determination of the impact of the exchange of materials and energy of the product system on its external environment. This assessment should consider the ecosystem, human health and other aspects. Impact.

Improvement analysis is a systematic assessment of the needs and opportunities for cutting energy consumption, raw material use, and environmental release throughout the life cycle of a product, process, or activity. This analysis includes quantitative and qualitative improvements. For example, change the product structure, re-select raw materials, change the manufacturing process and consumption methods, and waste management.

At present, the theory and method of inventory analysis are relatively mature. One of the most authoritative is a research report published by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1993: “Life Cycle Assessment: Outline and Principles of Inventory Analysis”. The theory and methods of impact assessment are at the stage of research and exploration, and there are few studies on improving the theory and methods of evaluation.

The ecological assessment of packaging products is based on the entire life cycle of the packaging products, from the extraction of raw materials, production and processing, transportation, sales, use, recycling, processing to the reuse of the whole process using quantitative comparison methods for analysis and research, in order to draw the final conclusion. The best design solution is to reduce the pressure of packaging waste on the environment. The starting point of LCA research was to analyze and evaluate packaging products as carriers. In the 1990s, the international community’s research on LCA rose to the point of establishing theoretical frameworks and methodologies. The packaging of products of some well-known enterprise groups has been tried through the above ideas. Determine the proper packaging system and obtain good economic benefits and public image. LCA assessment is an important part of modern packaging. It reduces the impact or damage of human packaging production activities on the natural environment. It also provides packaging companies with the direction of development of packaging materials and packaging waste disposal.

(c) The definition of green packaging.

Through the above analysis, the green packaging can be defined as follows: it is harmless to the ecological environment and human health, can be recycled and reused or degraded, and can promote the sustainable development of packaging. The correct understanding of the definition of green packaging should be clear: First, green packaging shows that packaging is a means to solve environmental problems, rather than the environmental issues themselves, and the environmental problems caused by packaging must ultimately be solved through the development of packaging. Green packaging fully reflects the responsibility of packaging for environmental protection and the technological innovation of packaging that is dedicated to improving the living conditions of human beings. Second, green packaging has the dual meanings of environmental protection and resource regeneration. In order to reduce pollution and protect the environment, we must maximize resources conservation. Saving resources and energy is also a fundamental measure to protect the environment. Third, green packaging involves the entire life cycle of packaging products. In current real life, it is still difficult to specify which packaging is an absolute green packaging, because even the best packaging, if it is discarded, is not recycled, can be harmful to the environment, and it is difficult to call it green. package. The main purpose of researching green packaging is to strengthen greening throughout the entire life cycle of packaging products. To this end, packaging products must be comprehensively measured from the selection of raw materials, the manufacture, use, recycling, and disposal of products to meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection, and to maintain a virtuous cycle in the natural ecosystem. It includes such contents as saving resources, energy, reducing quantity, easy recycling, avoiding or reducing the generation of waste, burning, degradable, etc. that have ecological and environmental protection requirements.

(to be continued)