Some time ago, McDonald's China announced that the company will further reduce plastics on food packaging and gradually discontinue plastic straws. Related plastic reduction measures will cover all restaurants in mainland China within 2020. The amount of plastic waste generated by human activities every year is very large, and the plastic waste produced in terms of diet accounts for a large part. In order to reduce the generation of plastic waste and protect the environment, food packaging is constantly changing.

Packaging changes

Humans produce about 311 million tons of plastic each year, of which about 280 million tons of plastic become garbage, of which 69.2% can be reused through raw material recycling, but the remaining 30.8%, or 86 million tons of plastic, cannot be recycled. . These plastic wastes are not easy to degrade, not only easily affect the beauty of the environment, but also contain potential harm to the health of animals, plants and humans.

Nowadays, many food companies are carrying out plastic reduction actions, or changing the shape of packaging to reduce the use of plastic. For example, many beverage companies have announced the discontinuation of plastic straws. In order for consumers to drink the liquid in the cup without using the straw, some companies have improved the lid so that consumers can drink directly without solids through the new lid. Cold drinks of things.

For another example, plastics are often used in canned beer combination packaging, and a foreign beer company launched a new combination packaging reduction program with high economic efficiency and easy realization last year. It is understood that the company has designed threaded patterns on the top and bottom of the beer cans. Stacking the beer cans up and down and aligning the threads to rotate and tighten can realize the combined packaging of beer, which is convenient for customers to carry and eliminates the use of plastic packaging materials. combination.

Packaging material innovation

In addition to improving packaging materials, the use of biodegradable materials to replace plastic packaging is also one of the highlights of the current plastic reduction campaign. It is understood that paper packaging is widely used instead of plastic packaging. The application of paper packaging in the food industry also has great advantages, including a wide range of raw materials, low cost, easy mass production, easy compound processing, excellent printing performance, good hygiene and safety, and waste recyclability.

Of course, with the efforts of scientific researchers, a series of degradable packaging materials have been developed. It is reported that in the past two years, a batch of pulp molded products made mainly of food raw materials such as rice husk or sugarcane pulp have appeared in the domestic market. These products are not only environmentally friendly and recyclable, but also naturally degradable; polylactic acid has also appeared internationally. Functional materials such as films and edible films promote the green and environmentally friendly development of the food packaging industry.

The country's promotion of plastic pollution management will also speed up the development of environmentally friendly packaging materials. In recent years, the relevant domestic departments have successively issued and issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Treatment of Plastic Pollution", the "Catalogue of Prohibited and Restricted Production, Sales and Use of Plastic Products (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)", and "The People's Republic of China on Solid Waste Pollution "Environmental Prevention and Control Law", etc., refine legal responsibilities and promote the treatment of plastic pollution in an orderly manner.

Although plastic products provide great convenience for human life, ordinary plastics take a long time to degrade, and it takes about 200 to 300 years to degrade, which may damage the ecological environment and endanger human health. All walks of life are also continuing to reduce plastics against white pollution. The food industry is no exception. It starts with changing packaging forms and innovating packaging materials to reduce the amount of plastic used and promote the green upgrade of the industry.