Using "The Stones of Other Hills" to Control Overpacking

Excessive packaging is the embodiment of the imbalance between the packaging value and the value of the packaged product. It is due to the excessive emphasis and blind pursuit of the added value of the packaging and the halo effect it brings.

One, excessive packaging hazards

In recent years, the luxury of merchandise packaging has intensified. In the 1980s, due to the undeveloped packaging industry, the price reductions caused by the poor appearance of China's export products amounted to hundreds of millions of US dollars each year. Later, the merchants discovered that there was "gold" in the package, and the excessive packaging developed so rapidly that it became a devil. Taking moon cakes as an example, people in the industry have revealed that nowadays moon cakes often have only 15% of the total cost of fillings, and packaging accounts for 30% or more, and the annual packaging investment is increasing. Not only moon cakes, supplements, medicines, and even some small commodities are caught in the "over-packaging" cycle, it has reached an ironic point. Such as the media has disclosed that a small cold fruit "Binghua Mountain" actually has four layers of wrapping paper, there are some health drugs, the volume even after the package even expanded several times or even dozens of times! Excessive packaging under the gorgeous appearance masked the waste of resources, increased costs and other unreasonable expenses.

Excessive packaging exacerbates the pressure on the environment. According to statistics, 10 years ago, the daily output of urban garbage in Guangzhou was only 2,800 tons, and now it has reached 4,300 tons, of which packaging waste accounts for 30%. This is just a microcosm of Chinese cities. According to Shen Xiaoyue, an associate researcher at the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the State Environmental Protection Administration, China now produces an average of 1.2 billion shirts each year, and the amount of paper used in the box amounts to 240,000 tons, which is equivalent to cutting off 1.68 million thick trees. The carton used for packing shirts is just a drop in the ocean. If you count the amount of paper used for packing all goods and the trees to be felled, this is undoubtedly an astonishing figure. Due to the low recycling rate of packaging waste in China, packaging waste has become the main source of urban waste. At present, the annual output of packaging in our country is about 30 million tons. In addition to the recycling of packaging products in China, except for cartons, beer bottles and plastic turnover containers, the recovery rate of other products is quite low. There are already many issues relating to “garbage siege” in many places. Excessive packaging accounts for a large proportion. At the same time, the annual output of packaging waste in China is 3% to 5% of the weight of industrial and domestic waste, but its volume accounts for more than 30% of domestic waste. Waste disposal in China is still based on sanitary landfills, and the increase in packaging waste will undoubtedly occupy more land.

In the process of building a well-to-do society in an all-round way, China’s resources and environmental conditions are not optimistic. In 2003, China consumed 30% of the world's total steel output, 40% of total cement output, and 31% of total coal production, while GDP accounted for only 4% of the world's total. According to calculations by the World Bank and relevant domestic agencies, in the mid-1990s, two-thirds of China’s economic growth was achieved on the basis of an overdraft ecological environment. Serious environmental pollution and ecological damage have brought huge losses to the country’s economic and social development. The results of the 2001 study showed that the economic losses caused by environmental pollution accounted for about 3 to 4% of GDP in the same year. China’s per capita resources are small, and the ecological environment is overall weak. To achieve overall economic and social coordination and sustainable development, we must break through resource constraints and eliminate environmental pollution. In the 21st century, China has gradually entered the era of mass consumption, resource consumption will grow at a rapid rate, production and domestic waste emissions will increase rapidly, and the burden on the ecological environment will further increase.

National conditions determine: Overpacking must be contained.

Second, foreign advanced experience

Many countries in the world have reached a consensus and have gained a lot of experience in controlling the over-packaging phenomenon of “selling a piece of leather”. Experts believe that these experiences can effectively control and reduce packaging waste in China, and can be called "stones of other hills." Therefore, drawing on relevant foreign regulations has become a shortcut to regulate excessive packaging. At present, there are mainly three types of foreign control over overpacking.

The first category: standard control. That is, a limit is set on the volume of the package, the gap between the package and the product, the number of packages, the ratio of the package cost to the value of the product, and the like. In the United States and Canada, the law stipulates that as long as there are too many empty seats in the packing box, the height and volume of the packing and contents are too different, the packing is unreasonably exaggerated, and it is not technically necessary, it is a fraudulent packing; The over-packaged items are regarded as an illegal act. If manufacturers do not reduce the packing ratio and layers of products according to government regulations, they will be fined up to 3 million won. In order to implement the restrictions on the packaging ratio and the number of layers, the Korean government has three major measures to regulate manufacturers: one is to check the packaging; the other is to award labels; and the third is to deal with the violation of packaging standards. For goods suspected of being over-packed, the government may require the manufacturer or importer to go to a specialized inspection department for inspection. After receiving the notification, the manufacturer or importer must go to the inspection department at their own expense within 20 days and check the record on the surface of the package to indicate the ratio of the packaging space, the packaging material, and the number of packaging layers.

The second category: Advocating a campaign to simplify packaging and protect the environment. In recent years, many places in Japan have launched a campaign to simplify packaging, save resources, and protect the environment. Osaka Prefecture called on manufacturers to reduce packaging to a minimum, and to use containers and packaging that can be reused as many times as possible. Some merchants also ask customers whether they are for personal use when they sell their products. If they use it for themselves, they want customers to cooperate and not to pack. The Simplified Commodity Packaging Campaign in Osaka Prefecture also calls on customers to purchase unpackaged vegetables, fruits and other foods when shopping, and to purchase paper-wrapped items as much as possible in the items that must be packaged. Some stores also encourage customers to bring their own shopping bags. If they want a shopping bag, they will need to pay extra. Through concerted efforts in various aspects, the amount of packaging waste in Japan has dropped significantly and achieved better results. Look again at Germany in the Western Hemisphere. Germany began to promote the "no packaging" and "simple packaging" of goods 10 years ago. Today, with the increase of environmental awareness, "green packaging" has become a common practice in Germany.

The third category is to increase the producer’s responsibility and stipulate that the commodity producer is responsible for recycling the commodity packaging. A deposit system can usually be used to entrust relevant commercial organizations to recycle packaging. In order to facilitate recycling, producers will actively choose package designs that use less material and are easy to recycle. Germany has now imposed a deposit system and customers are buying mineral water, beer, cola and soft drinks in all plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans. When you drink, you must pay the appropriate deposit. The deposit system is not only to urge customers to return empty beverage cans and improve recycling efficiency, but also to allow Germans to change their spending habits of using disposable beverage packaging and to choose more reusable packaging. Japan attaches particular importance to the recycling and recycling of packaging, in an effort to save resources and reduce pollution to the environment. Japan formulated the "Container Packaging Recycling Act" in 1995, which stipulated that manufacturers and consumers are obliged to recycle various types of packaging waste for recycling. The law stipulates that the container packaging waste must be strictly classified into metal, glass, paper, plastic, etc., and fully recycled for recycling. Consumers should put the packaging rubbish into a designated place at a designated time, and the relevant department or the recycling enterprise should take it back at a regular time and send it to the designated factory for reprocessing and recycling.

Source: China Packaging

School of Business Administration, Liaoning Technical University, Jiang Yanyan