On Green Packaging in International Trade and China's Countermeasures (1)

[Abstract] With the continuous expansion of the scale of international trade and the continuous advancement of science and technology, international requirements for the packaging of goods have become increasingly stringent. The developed countries have increasingly emphasized the green packaging and green packaging systems. For various reasons, China still faces many difficulties in implementing strict green packaging. It requires governments, enterprises, and consumers to participate together and establish China's green packaging system as soon as possible to meet the challenges of green trade barriers.

[Key words] green packaging green barrier environmental trade

Packaging is an important part of the product. It is not only the product's protection and barrier layer, but also constitutes the basis for product measurement. It is contrary to the merits or the quality of the display. Therefore, the commodity packaging has always been valued in international trade. Due to the further deterioration of the ecological balance, people’s awareness of environmental protection has been strengthened. In order to protect human health and safety, and prevent mutual trade from harming the target environment and destroying resources, international requirements for packaging have become more stringent. Many corresponding laws and regulations. Some countries have imposed harsh and cumbersome regulations on the packaging of goods. Importers must comply with these regulations, or they must not import or prohibit sales in the market. At the same time, this has also become a requirement of the WTO and more and more emphasis is placed on green packaging.

First, the rise of green packaging and the main content

With the continuous expansion of the scale of international commodity exchanges and the continuous advancement of science and technology, people are becoming more aware of the serious impact that commodity packaging has on the ecological environment. The negative impact of packaging on the environment is mainly due to packaging materials and the resulting packaging waste and packaging container structure. Traditional natural packaging materials, such as wood and cotton, may bring locusts, red mites and nematodes that damage the ecological environment and economic crops to the importing country, endanger local forests and crops, and may also bring in various types of bacteria. Influencing the safety of people and animals, newly-developed chemical synthetic materials such as PVC plastics are difficult to degrade naturally, and they pollute the atmosphere when they are burned as waste; in the process of producing foamed liner plastics, chlorofluorocarbons are included. The use of (CFCS) foaming agents can damage the ozone layer and endanger human life. A large number of packaging wastes seriously pollute the environment, generate waste and become a major public hazard. The unreasonable structure of packaging containers will cause harm to the safety and health of users or consumers, and some will cause damage to the environment. In 1987, the United Nations Environment and Development Commission called for the use of green packaging in the "China's Common Future." Countries have also adopted many environmental protection measures for green packaging, and green packaging has thus emerged. Since the 1990s, most countries have adopted laws, regulations and standards to protect the ecological environment and human health and safety. The green requirement for packaging is to adapt to this trend and have a good impact on the development of the world economy: (1) reduce the amount of packaging waste; (2) protect the ecological environment; (3) reduce or even eliminate The cross-effects between the trading partners due to the extreme filling of packaging materials to the environment and human health and safety; (4) improved the market competitiveness of the products of exporting countries; (5) adapted to the trade requirements of the world today.

Green packaging generally refers to packaging that is harmless to ecological and environmental protection and human health, saves resources and energy, can be reused or recycled, and can promote sustainable development. In other words, the whole process of packaging products from the selection of raw materials to the manufacture, use, recycling and recycling of products should meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection. The developed countries proposed the “4R+1D” principle, 4R means: Reduce (Decrease, that is, to minimize the use of packaging materials to meet the functional requirements of the packaging), Reuse (reusable, effective use), Recycle (recyclable products, ie recycling), Recover (incineration) Does not pollute the gas and energy regeneration); 1D refers to Degradable (degradable, does not produce environmental pollution). On this basis, with the progress of science, green packaging may have more connotations. In general, green packaging should have at least the following conditions: (1) it should not have a negative impact on human health, animal and plant safety, and (2) under the conditions of having a packaging function, the use of materials should be the lowest and packaging waste should be the least; ( 3) Packaging can be recycled or reused for packaging materials; (4) Non-recyclable or recycled packaging materials should meet the following requirements: When packaging waste is incinerated, it can generate new energy or no toxic gas and secondary pollution occurs; (5) ) The packaging material can be degraded on its own after use, and it can be destroyed by decomposition after burying itself.

Second, the requirements of green packaging in international trade

At present, the international green packaging system has become one of the main contents of setting up green standards in developed countries. The green packaging system requires that imported goods are packed to conserve resources, easily recycled or reused after use, easy to decompose naturally, do not pollute the environment, and protect environmental resources and consumer health. According to this institutional principle, in recent decades, developed countries have taken measures to formulate laws, regulations, and technical standards on packaging that include environmental protection measures, mainly in the following categories:

1. Formulate green packaging laws and regulations. Many developed countries comply with the laws and regulations of the country by implementing the laws and regulations that require importation of product packaging and waste disposal.

2, the provisions of the use of certain packaging materials. In order to protect domestic resources, crops, buildings, water sources and forests, and prevent damage caused by pests, bacteria, and microorganisms in the packaging, many countries have imposed restrictions on packaging and strict inspection and treatment regulations. If it is forbidden to use wood, straw, microbes, etc. to cause harm, many countries have made restrictions on packaging, strict inspection and treatment regulations. If it is prohibited to use traditional natural packaging materials such as wood, straw, and old sacks, it is prohibited to use packaging materials containing lead, mercury, and cadmium, etc.

3, limit the use of plastic can not be recycled or can not be decomposed. Such as the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries, prohibit the use of plastic can not be recycled or can not be decomposed, the packaging design, production, commercialization, must be able to reuse and regeneration.

4. Enforce recycling or reuse laws. Many countries have stipulated that beer, soft drinks and mineral water should all be used in containers that can be recycled. Many countries, such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Denmark, have formulated recycling activities and provided for the collection of various packaging materials.

5, collect raw materials, product packaging and waste disposal. Taxes (fees) are levied on companies that produce packaging materials. If all packaging materials used in the product are recyclable packaging materials, they can be tax-exempt; if part of recycled materials are used, a lower tax is levied; Reusing or recycling materials imposes higher taxes.