Plastic Packaging in a New Era: Cai Mingchi Outlines Five Priorities for Healthier Growth

In recent years, the international financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to China, while the implementation of the Food Safety Law and the Circular Economy Promotion Law has raised the bar for the plastic packaging industry. Cai Mingchi, Secretary-General of the Packaging Committee of the China Packaging Federation, says that achieving steady and relatively rapid growth in plastic packaging remains an arduous task, yet the industry can move toward healthier development under macro-policy guidance. He offers specific suggestions in five areas.

Strengthen Legal Awareness

A series of laws and regulations—including the Circular Economy Promotion Law, the Food Safety Law, and the General Office of the State Council’s Notice on Curbing Excessive Packaging of Commodities—have pointed the way for plastic packaging. Cai Mingchi stresses that plastic packaging is closely tied to food safety, excessive packaging, and the recycling and regeneration of packaging waste, so the industry must treat these issues with real seriousness and embed them in production and operations. Food safety problems, resource waste, and environmental pollution are already subject to legal rules; they harm both businesses and society and can trigger administrative, economic, or legal liability, so they must never be taken lightly.

Deepen Domestic and Overseas Markets

Cai Mingchi notes that plastic packaging is closely connected with most domestic industries, making market development a key part of product growth. To this end, companies need to work on several fronts—both tapping existing applications and following industrial policy to find new growth.

Specifically, first, extend existing application markets. Today, plastic packaging products mainly serve food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, grain, general industrial goods, and daily consumer goods; the next step is to refine market segmentation and use differentiation and functionality to open up more space. Second, align with national industrial policy adjustments and follow state-supported sectors such as agricultural products, transport, and building materials, supplying safe, supporting packaging. Third, strengthen contact, cooperation, and communication with plastic-packaging-related departments, gather information widely, and keep pace with market trends. Fourth, step up overseas market development. Many related product markets abroad have changed markedly, so plastic packaging companies should take the initiative, seize opportunities, and intensify overseas market research and development.

Use Independent Technological Innovation to Drive Product Mix Adjustment

Experts argue that years of practice show technological innovation is the driving force and lifeline for the survival and growth of companies and the wider industry; sustainable development depends on getting innovation right. Biaxially oriented film equipment, for example, has long relied mainly on imports—making clear that independent innovation cannot wait and cannot rely on others.

On technology innovation, several actions are proposed: companies should raise awareness and treat independent innovation as a matter of survival; capable enterprises should set aside a fixed proportion of R&D funds each year, and the Plastic Products Packaging Committee will actively cooperate to seek a certain amount of annual R&D funding from the China Packaging Federation to support eligible projects; seek technical support from universities and research institutes; strengthen information exchange and keep timely track of the latest technological trends at home and abroad; and focus current innovation on adjusting the product mix—making products safer, more functional, more differentiated, and lighter to meet market demand.

Develop Energy-Saving and Consumption-Reducing Technologies for Lightweight, Thin-Wall Packaging

Experts point out that the plastic packaging industry has substantial room to save energy and reduce consumption. Take beverage bottles: there is still potential to lower bottle weight through technological progress, and the gap between domestic and overseas levels is clear; further weight reduction is entirely feasible without compromising usability and safety. One beverage bottle producer has calculated that reducing weight per bottle can deliver considerable raw material savings, and when converted at per-tonne prices, annual costs fall noticeably. For polyester film commonly used in flexible packaging, reducing thickness appropriately could save a large amount of material nationwide each year and cut electricity use by producing less film. Similarly, for certain specifications of packaging drums, reducing consumption by a certain number of grams per drum can save raw material and costs each year for large-scale producers.

It follows that thin-walling and light-weighting of packaging containers can not only lower corporate costs and raise profits but also reduce resource consumption, transport costs, and packaging waste, creating both social and economic benefits. Of course, light-weighting must be achieved through effective methods and on the premise of safeguarding the usability and safety required by packaged products and consumers. It is not about cutting corners; it requires technological progress and continuous innovation.

Implement the Circular Economy Law, Recycle and Reuse Plastic Packaging Waste, and Pursue Green Packaging

Cai Mingchi points out that green packaging development in China has stumbled into certain misconceptions: green packaging is often narrowly understood as a type of packaging product or one made from degradable materials, while environmental pollution and resource waste in production, impacts on human health, and reuse of packaging materials are overlooked. In reality, whether a packaging material is green should be judged by its environmental impact across the entire life cycle. Paper packaging, for instance, can also harm the environment if improperly recovered and handled; non-degradable packaging can still qualify as green if it achieves reduction, resource recovery, and harmlessness. Even in developed countries that strictly promote green packaging, plastics remain the fastest-growing packaging material, and strengthening recycling is the main way to reduce their environmental impact.

China’s plastic packaging output is already large, yet the annual utilization rate of packaging waste remains at a relatively low level. Bottle recycling is comparatively high, mainly because bottles have relatively high recovery value. For polyester bottles, producing new polyester chips consumes petroleum; when calculated on bottle-grade polyester volumes, the petroleum consumption is substantial. Recycling and reuse can therefore save significant resources and is of great importance to developing the circular economy.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-369961.html