Circular Economy, Standards and Corporate Action: Packaging’s Green Low-Carbon Transition Accelerates

Low-Carbon Transition: Packaging’s Green Upgrade Picks Up Speed

Packaging is a service-oriented manufacturing sector deeply tied to people’s livelihood and the national economy, occupying a key role in economic development. In 2022, China had over 9,800 above-scale packaging companies; they generated RMB 1.23 trillion in operating income and more than RMB 63 billion in total profits, a 14% year-on-year decline. Exports totaled USD 5 billion, up 12% year on year, while imports reached USD 14 billion, down 15%.

Zhu Liyang, President of the China Association of Circular Economy, said carbon peaking and carbon neutrality are inherent to high-quality growth. As a key component of the modern industrial system, packaging should follow the national strategy of advancing green development, using the circular economy as a lever to grow green packaging and promote high-quality development. He views high-quality packaging development as important support for the comprehensive green transition of the economy and society. The sector has substantial pollution- and carbon-reduction potential: China consumes about 30 million tonnes of packaging materials each year, and packaging waste makes up 30%–40% of municipal solid waste. Downstream consumer brands and upstream packaging manufacturers should therefore jointly explore green packaging solutions and build a full-lifecycle green development system covering materials, design and other stages.

Xie Li’an, a second-level inspector at the Consumer Goods Industry Department of MIIT, offered recommendations. First, drive innovation: nurture innovation actors, focus on key technologies, pursue independent innovation continuously, and encourage companies to invest more in technology centers and innovation teams. Second, strengthen green development: reinforce green principles and let packaging companies serve as a bridge and guide in promoting moderate packaging and innovative, rational consumption. Third, curb excessive packaging in all forms and advance greener production and lifestyles. GB 23350-2021, Requirements for Limiting Excessive Packaging of Commodities — Food and Cosmetics, has been released, and the packaging industry is expected to implement the related work further.

Fourth, implement the “three products” strategy. Packaging is vital in goods circulation, and growth in consumer goods will pull the packaging industry forward. The sector should continue to follow the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation and Development of China’s Packaging Industry, organize “three products” actions to increase variety, improve quality and cultivate brands, and thus advance high-quality development across the industry.

Yuan Huanming, a second-level inspector at the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission, noted that during the 14th Five-Year Plan, Jiangsu supported 6.3% average annual economic growth with 1.6% average annual energy consumption growth, while the comprehensive utilization rate of general industrial bulk solid waste stayed above 95%. As green packaging moves from concept to practice, it is closely linked to daily life and matters greatly for the “dual carbon” goals and the circular economy. Next, the commission will boost innovation support, encourage independent R&D and commercialization, cultivate internationally influential green packaging firms, and promote sound integration in packaging.

Xu Mingtao, deputy director of the Military-Civilian Integration Office of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, said advancing the circular economy is a key direction for China’s economy and an effective route to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. As a major part of the circular economy, green packaging can cut resource and energy waste while protecting the environment and improving ecology. Going forward, Suzhou will strengthen technological innovation, raise the quality and technical content of green low-carbon products, deepen exchanges and cooperation between domestic and foreign companies, encourage independent certification and brand building, and promote the packaging industry’s green transformation and upgrading to enhance green packaging’s market influence and competitiveness.

Improving Standards: Advancing Green Packaging Certification and Recycling Systems

During the keynote session, experts from the China Association of Circular Economy, the Resources and Environment Research Branch of the China National Institute of Standardization, and the Tsinghua Suzhou Institute for Environmental Innovation shared views on green packaging transformation and improving the green manufacturing system.

Zhao Kai, executive vice president of the China Association of Circular Economy, said that during the 13th Five-Year Plan, the packaging industry’s foundations grew more solid, its overall structure optimized faster, innovation capacity kept strengthening and quality improved steadily. Facing a complex international environment and intensifying global competition that squeezes the market, the 14th Five-Year Plan period should focus on green packaging materials, green design, green supply chains, green production actions, deeper development of the green packaging certification and recycling systems, and green demonstration projects. These efforts should practice circular economy principles, guide green transformation and innovation, and help make economic and social development greener and more low-carbon.

Lin Ling, director of the Resources and Environment Research Branch at the China National Institute of Standardization, stressed that standards are a foundational tool for green and low-carbon transformation and a binding means to meet energy-saving and carbon-reduction targets. She reviewed efforts to build and improve the green low-carbon standards system, the dual-carbon standards and measurement system, the green product evaluation and certification system, and key tasks for accelerating green express packaging standardization.

She added that the institute will implement the National Standardization Development Outline and the Outline for Building a Quality Power, establish and improve a green packaging standards system, and launch key actions such as the dual-carbon standards foundation-strengthening initiative, the upgrading of 100 energy-saving and carbon-reduction standards, low-carbon frontier technology standards leadership, and international cooperation on green low-carbon standards. These moves are meant to support policy implementation and market demand. The industry must strengthen basic standardization capacity, and more industry organizations, companies and R&D institutions should join in to create high-quality standards and drive high-quality industry growth.

Yao Xin, vice president of the Tsinghua Suzhou Institute for Environmental Innovation, pointed out that as a major manufacturing country, China’s manufacturing and construction sectors account for the highest share of energy-related carbon emissions from a consumption perspective. Consumption is an enduring force for decarbonization across fields, while the supply side is the fundamental way to achieve carbon reduction for all; consumption-side management should also be a key part of urban carbon reduction. He said green consumption plays an important transmission role, and a green supply chain based on the full product lifecycle should be built.

Ding Xiangbin, deputy director of the Green Development Research Center at the Tsinghua Suzhou Institute for Environmental Innovation, said product carbon footprint is indispensable to building and managing a green supply chain and is an important tool for measuring green production, responding to green trade barriers and leading green consumption trends. Based on Suzhou’s green consumption practice, the demand side needs effective government guidance, active corporate action, broad social mobilization and public participation, while the supply side must embed green concepts throughout the full cycle and entire chain to establish a multi-dimensional green consumption pattern.

Business in Action: Companies Roll Out Sustainable Packaging Solutions

The forum also held sub-forums on “Brand Leadership for Green Development,” “Innovation Driving High-Quality Industrial Growth” and “Typical Circular Economy Model Cases,” where brand representatives and experts spoke.

Sui Jinguo, Haleon’s vice president of quality and supply chain for China, said the company integrates green emission reduction into brand building by cutting carbon emissions, designing sustainable packaging, sourcing reliable materials sustainably, and reducing waste and water use, while producing low-carbon goods, conducting low-carbon marketing and implementing low-carbon logistics to honor its sustainability commitment. To meet its goal of making cartons for all its brand product packaging 100% recyclable by 2025, Haleon currently uses measures such as removing shrink film from bundle packs and reducing plastic in outer packaging. Starting with sustainable packaging design, it aims to lower carbon emissions across the packaging lifecycle and boost recycling and regeneration of post-consumer packaging waste.

Du Huanzheng, director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Circular Economy at Tongji University, said that although packaging is a relatively small industry, it is critical in product use, sales, transport and storage. Against the dual-carbon goals and plastic pollution control, reusable express boxes can effectively control waste generation throughout the process and reduce carbon emissions from single-use packaging materials, achieving lower costs, controlled flows, plastic reduction, and energy savings and carbon cuts. He noted that scaling reusable express boxes requires policy support, innovations in loading/unloading and recycling/cleaning technologies, and integration with business models. Pilots should be expanded first, with problems identified and solved and experience summarized, to create replicable and scalable models and advance the reusable express box industry.

Xia Xiaohui, director of packaging paper business development at UPM (China) Co., Ltd., said fiber-based materials are among the important options for reducing plastic in sustainable packaging and have complete, systematic lifecycle assessment practices. Still, the application effects of fiber-based materials and processes in packaging plastic reduction must be reasonably evaluated according to use scenarios and packaging characteristics, so that circular economy models suited to functional fiber-based materials can be summarized and promoted.

— This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379426.html