National Carbon-Neutral Enterprise Carbon Sink Forest Unveiled, Green Cartons in Focus

Recently, the national “carbon-neutral enterprise” carbon sink forest unveiling ceremony took place in Jianning County, Fujian Province. The ceremony was attended by Liu Yuhe, former Vice Minister of Forestry and Chairman of the China Green Carbon Foundation; Su Zonghai, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Green Carbon Foundation; Xie Zaizhong, Deputy Director of the Fujian Provincial Department of Forestry; and other leaders, together with Lin Guangmin, Chairman of Fujian Jianfeng Packaging Products Co., Ltd. The 150 mu carbon sink forest established in Jianning County can fully absorb [emissions] over the next 20 years, fulfilling the carbon neutrality objective.

Fujian Jianfeng Packaging Products Co., Ltd. achieves annual production-process carbon neutrality through forestry carbon sinks via the China Green Carbon Foundation. For its corrugated board and carton products, more than 80% of raw materials come from recycled waste paper, a green and eco-friendly packaging material. As an advanced domestic corrugated board and corrugated carton manufacturer, Jianfeng Packaging has followed a “green packaging, low-carbon operation” philosophy for 15 years, producing green and eco-friendly cartons. As early as 2003, the company earned the “Peony Cup,” the gold award often called the “Oscar” of China’s packaging and printing industry, for its high-quality green products. It has also developed several innovative eco-friendly products that “replace wood with paper and plastic with paper,” which have been well received in the market.

In Europe and the United States, where the carton industry is well developed, the vast majority of cartons and boxes are printed using flexographic water-based ink printing. China’s environmental protection mindset is also gaining ground, and people increasingly recognize the importance of sustainable development. In particular, after joining the WTO, aligning with the global packaging industry has made it necessary to consider environmental regulations. As a result, green and eco-friendly cartons are bound to be widely welcomed by domestic users.

However, because water-based ink carton printing began relatively late in China, it is often associated with low-end printing. To make cartons with better print surfaces, the usual choices are offset printing with corrugated mounting, preprint lamination, and even gravure preprint. Yet when cost, environmental protection, efficiency, energy consumption, and print quality are considered together, using precision corrugated board printing presses to apply water-based ink carton printing directly is undoubtedly a low-cost production method. It benefits carton manufacturers and will steer the carton market toward lower energy use and greener development. This has already been proven in Europe, where water-based ink carton printing is highly refined. For example, water-based ink cartons produced on Dinidun printing presses are placed directly on store shelves for sale.

China’s corrugated water-based ink printing quality still lags considerably behind Europe’s standard. Apart from other factors, this is closely tied to the printing equipment used. It is reasonable to expect that as Chinese users adopt truly precision carton printing presses, the gap will gradually narrow and may eventually close or even be surpassed. The precision corrugated board water-based ink “post-printing” approach combines multiple advantages. Whether handling large orders such as “beer and beverages,” or orders with many styles and small-to-medium batch sizes—such as “household appliances, electronic and computer products, small commodities, children’s toys, handicrafts, food, office supplies, pharmaceuticals, and daily necessities”—it can complete production tasks with low energy consumption, making it a “low-cost, eco-friendly and energy-saving” method in “green” carton and box production.

— Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362122.html