Recyclable and sustainable plastic packaging mater

Recyclable and sustainable plastic packaging materials are a major development trend in the cosmetics packaging industry

The sustainable development of human society has caused plastic packaging to face increasing environmental pressure, but plastic packaging will not be replaced by other packaging materials because of its unique advantages. In the future, with the advancement of technology, plastic packaging materials will be used in a way that reduces carbon emissions and is environmentally sound, and improves the use value of plastic packaging materials.

Our planet needs sustainable packaging solutions

Globally, it is estimated that 42% of plastics are used for packaging, most of which are only used for single-use purposes. Therefore, the problems caused by plastic pollution in the ecosystem are long-term and long-lasting.

The recycling rate of plastics is only 10%, which means that 90% of plastics are incinerated, landfilled or directly discarded into the natural environment. Plastic usually takes 20 to 400 years or more to decompose. Decomposing plastic creates fragments, or microplastics, that remain in the atmospheric circulation and in everything we touch, from water to food and soil. Using sustainable materials for packaging can break this negative cycle. 

More and more countries are implementing laws to reduce single-use plastic packaging

In 2021, Australia announced the National Plastics Plan, which aims to ban single-use plastics by 2025. In addition to Australia, a growing number of countries and cities around the world are taking action to ban single-use plastics. In the European Union, the 2019 Single-Use Plastics Directive aims to combat the 10 most common single-use plastic items found on European beaches, which account for 70% of all marine litter in the EU. In the United States, states such as California, Hawaii and New York have begun legislation to ban single-use plastics such as plastic bags, forks and food containers. In Asia, countries such as Indonesia and Thailand have led the way in calling for measures to ban single-use plastics.

Compared with waiting for legislative pressure from the government, Morgan Stanley research reported that from 2018 to 2019 alone, the number of companies implementing "plastic strategies" in the United States more than doubled year-on-year. This shows that under the future general trend, companies are willing to pay relative profits to make changes to achieve environmental strategies and social responsibility goals. Of course, this does not exclude the possibility of commercial benefits driven by the development of sustainable packaging. is a major factor.

Not all plastic packaging alternatives are perfect, sustainability is more important

Data from research companies Ranpak and Harris show that e-commerce customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany are willing to cooperate with companies that use sustainable packaging. In fact, more than 70% of consumers in all these countries share this preference, with more than 80% of consumers in the UK and France preferring sustainable packaging. Consumers' affinity for sustainable packaging has made them more likely to see paper packaging rather than plastic to protect the items they purchase.

But one study estimates that the overall environmental cost of using plastic in the drinks industry is nearly four and a half times lower than the cost of replacing it with alternative materials such as aluminum, paper and glass. That said, every alternative is not perfect. The best and lowest impact approach to beverage packaging is to consider the life cycle of the plastic product – beverage packaging is brought to market in a sustainable way, the packaging is recyclable and reusable, and overall has the lowest impact on the environment.

With the increasing need for environmental protection actions and the need for enterprises to achieve a win-win situation between economic profits and sustainable development goals, it can be said with certainty that in the near future, the development of greener, more environmentally friendly, recyclable and sustainable plastic packaging materials will be the key to the development of the packaging industry. major trends.