The basic elements of green packaging

With the economic development, the competition between similar products has become increasingly fierce. In order to make their products unique in the market, businesses are painstaking. In addition to their efforts to increase the value of their own products, they are constantly seeking for an outer packaging that is both suitable for the product and convincing consumers. Due to the continuous improvement of people’s environmental awareness, “green” and “environmental protection” have become more and more important to people. Therefore, there is a fashionable topic in the society: green packaging.

In the green revolution that gradually emerged, designers have a higher design pursuit, that is, to make packaging play a protective role for the product, but also to reduce its environmental pollution. Therefore, in the design process, the designer firmly grasps the internal elements (packing materials) and external elements (structural modeling, images, colors, and texts) of the design, and consciously gives and enhances people's awareness of environmental protection and promotes the entire environment. Green packaging process.

The intrinsic elements of green packaging
Under the advocacy of green environmental protection, designers have higher requirements for packaging materials, the intrinsic factor of green packaging. They follow the "5R+1D" principle and make targeted choices about materials.

1. Lightweight packaging
Means to meet the various functional conditions, minimize the use of packaging materials. It is understood that the current experts in the corrugated board strength test shows that: If the quantitative increase in corrugated paper 1g/m2, the ration of cardboard can be reduced 1g/m2. Therefore, in the production process of corrugated board, this method can achieve lightweight packaging. For example, Budweiser uses 185g/m2 coated paperboard produced by M-Real of Finland as corrugated paperboard. It is a kind of thin paperboard with low basis weight and high strength (side pressure strength and bursting resistance). Has good printability. Using this cardboard and carton preprinting technology, the weight of the carton is reduced by 30%, the packaging cost is reduced by 20%, and the strength of the carton is increased by 10%, and the printing effect is greatly improved. It can be seen that the lightweight of packaging materials is favored by businesses.

2. Material Recycling (Return)
Refers to the recycling of used packaging products, reuse, and processing into new packaging products. At present, the issue of recycling of paper packaging materials has been basically solved, and the recycling of single plastic products (PE, P, etc.) has also made great breakthroughs, but there are still some problems in some composite plastic recycling technologies. Such as: aluminum plastic composite material because of the surface finish is good, has good moisture resistance, barrier properties, oxidation resistance and printing, it is widely used in food, medicine and many Other products on the packaging, but how to effectively separate aluminum plastic It has always been a problem. Through continuous efforts, the Hi-tech Research Institute of the Science and Technology Association of Shenqiu County in Henan Province recently developed a technology for the recycling and recycling of waste aluminum and plastic packaging, making it difficult to recycle waste aluminum-plastic packaging to separate plastics from aluminum. The success of this technology has taken another important step towards recycling.

3. Material Reuse
It refers to the recycling of all or some of the used packaging products, and does not easily give up the packaging products that can be used again, thereby reducing the production of packaging products. Since February 2003, all Epson maintenance service stations have used environmentally friendly packaging and have been equipped with environmentally friendly delivery. The box is made from 100% compressed recycled paper and is durable and reusable. Environmental packaging and distribution service is the use of the above materials to transport customers to print the printer. When the product is delivered to the customer, the package is brought back by the delivery staff for reuse. In addition, when the company recycles and reuses containers for large-sized output machines, the containers are recycled and reused according to the time required by the customer. In order to facilitate the recycling of the containers, they changed the raw materials of the boxes from the previous synthetic materials to single materials (cartons), which saved both resources and costs.

4. Material can be recycled (Recycle)
Means that used packaging products are recycled and reprocessed to be used in different fields. As composite materials have a series of difficulties in achieving recycling technology, merchants have begun to use some packaging materials made from a single material that are conducive to recycling to achieve recycling of materials. Currently, a pure polyester beverage bottle without a high-density polyethylene base has appeared on the market, and a pulp molding package can be used instead of some conventionally difficult-to-degrade plastic products. For example, a U.S. company has developed a paradigm shift from waste recycling to a new era.

5. Refused to use non-ecological materials (Refuse
It refers to the rejection of the use of packaging products that are not conducive to ecological development or can cause diseases, insect pests, etc. In terms of packaging materials, some developed countries, which are importing countries, have banned or restricted certain packaging materials (wooden boxes, straw bags, etc.) made from certain raw packaging materials and partially recycled packaging materials. For example, since September 1998, the United States has demanded that all wood packaging and wood bedding materials from China must be subjected to high temperature treatment, fumigation or preservative treatment, otherwise they will all be refused entry. Since January 1999, Canada has also imposed strict controls on the use of wood packaging materials imported from China. It requires that pest control be carried out in advance and certificates from relevant Chinese authorities should be accompanied. In order to solve such problems, China adopted a "honeycomb paperboard" packaging technology, because it has the advantages of light, strong, rigid, and stable, set off a wave of "honeycomb paperboard" in China.

6. Degradable material
It means that in order not to form permanent waste, non-recyclable packaging waste should be decomposed and the purpose of soil improvement should be achieved through fertilization. Pulp molded products are typical multifunctional degradable products. Pulp molded lunch boxes have the advantages of heat preservation, heat insulation and pressure resistance. Pulp molded trays have excellent positioning cushioning, air permeability and fresh-keeping performance. Pulps molded by the pulp are planted into the pots and transplanted to the outside after being transplanted into seedlings. The nutrient mash is used as a fertilizer to help the plants thrive. These pulp molded products are favored by consumers and businesses.

In short, in today's increasingly environmentally-friendly environment, the rational and effective use of packaging materials is even more important. This requires the packaging designer to continuously develop and research to speed up the design process. The external elements of green packaging The external elements of green packaging mainly include structural shapes, patterns, colors, and text.

1. Structural Modeling For the sales package, its appearance is the first choice for consumers when choosing a product. Therefore, in advocating green environmental protection today, designers no longer pursue excessively luxurious structures, but are more eager to find a simple, space-saving, easy-to-open, and easy-to-carry moderate package. This optimized packaging structure achieves the goal of saving resources, facilitating processing, and reducing costs.

For transport packaging, designers are pursuing a design that strives to save materials and maintain or enhance the original performance on the basis of meeting certain requirements (which are conducive to loading and unloading, facilitating stacking, and facilitating storage). It is understood that in order to reduce the damage caused by impact during transportation, Japan has adopted a material made entirely of waste paper. On its diaphragm, there are many shaped air layers with hemispherical cross-section and can pass through. Change the thickness of the diaphragm, the amount of inflation to adjust the strength, in order to achieve a good buffer effect, this structure has become a trend of the new era.

2. Pattern colors Consumers' consumption trends are now on the basis of quantity and quality, requiring more emotional satisfaction. Therefore, the designer must pass the self-value of the commodity through the outer packaging of the commodity, and pass a certain consumption value (ie, affection, honor, status, love, etc.). Therefore, designers must grasp the consumer's consumer psychology in the design process, accurately convey the value of the goods, thus providing consumers with a suitable mood is particularly prominent.

Designers can use patterns and colors to coordinate with each other, and skillfully establish a bridge between consumers and commodities to achieve the purpose of guiding consumers. Designers can shape different themes based on the different nature of the merchandise, and give the work enough vitality and appeal. It's worth noting that designers should not oversimplify or render too much. Otherwise, the purpose of attracting consumers may not be achieved, and even the image of the product itself may be damaged. This "moderation" is one of the topics advocated by Green Packaging. Here is a simple example: The labeling of a brand of wine is based on the grape farm as a background pattern, which creates a tranquil rural atmosphere and reflects the theme of natural and grape brewing. The elegant colors were chosen to render the pattern, reflecting an elegant and peaceful life atmosphere, providing people with a leisurely pastoral mood. The combination of the two can be described as just right, not only embodies the value of the product, but also reflects the value of consumption, so that consumers have a pleasing feeling in the purchase, which is in line with the requirements of environmental protection.

3. Text is an indispensable part of packaging design. Advertising words should be short and concise to achieve accurate delivery of product information. It should be noted that the advertising words should not only be appropriate for language, but also not exaggerate the value of goods and avoid misleading consumers. It is also necessary to make the decentness of the language possible so that consumers can't make mistakes and misunderstandings and ambiguities. occur. In addition, in the choice of the size and color of the text, it should be easy to read, easy to identify, and match it with the pattern to achieve a surprisingly artistic effect.

In summary, with the enhancement of the concept of “new brand, new image”, the emergence of new products has continuously increased the competitiveness of the market. Businesses in order to allow their products to occupy a place in the market, the basic requirements for product packaging are also constantly improving, which is precisely the challenges our industry is facing in the new era.



Source: Print Magazine