Plastic packaging recycling

Due to its light weight, high strength, convenience, and low cost, plastic packaging has been rapidly developed and widely used in the field of packaging materials since the 1970s, which has greatly facilitated people's lives. However, because most plastic packaging materials are difficult to degrade naturally, their packaging waste will form permanent waste and cause environmental pollution. Therefore, when using and designing plastic packaging materials, full consideration should be given to the degradability of plastic packaging materials, the possibility of recycling, and recycling methods. The government should also take measures to promote the development of biodegradable plastics to promote the development of circular economy.

According to the latest statistics provided by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Light Industry, the major economic indicators of China's plastic products industry have achieved an overall increase in 2005, increasing by more than 25%, and the total industrial output value has reached 501.1 billion yuan. The industry analysts analyzed that although plastic raw material prices remained at a high level in 2005, market demand was strong, as well as increased exports, new application areas, and high value-added product output, which still contributed to the overall growth of the industry's economic indicators. At present, packaging has become the largest user of plastics, with an annual consumption of more than 6 million tons.

However, exquisite plastic packaging tends to become waste that is not used in an instant. With the rapid growth of plastic packaging, the environmental problems brought about by it have become increasingly serious. In particular, the waste of disposable plastic packaging materials is large, scattered, and messy, making it difficult to collect.

Some of this waste was discarded and scattered on the ground, polluting the city's cityscape and environmental landscape, and adversely affecting economic development and the ecological environment.

In order to solve this problem, the government, enterprises and scientific and technical workers have done a lot of work. Advocates the use of less, limited, and prohibited; advocated and formulated local laws and regulations, forced the implementation of degradable plastics; proposed the use of economic means (taxation, fees) to guide consumption also. However, unfortunately, many of the measures have had little success. Restrictions and bans have caused ordinary people to feel inconvenience. Fees have increased the burden on the people.

Facts have proved that the modern society can not do without plastics. It is not as good as diverting, and the use of materials with better performance and price ratios, development of biodegradable plastics with technologies and methods more in line with the characteristics of the times, and greater recycling of plastic waste. It is the way to solve "white pollution". The author believes that the current recycling of plastic packaging materials waste should adopt a multi-Channel, multi-channel approach, according to the meaning of sustainable development of the ecological environment to sort them, first is recycling, followed by recycling and regeneration or incineration to obtain energy The third is landfill, and the fourth is bio-degradable material replacement.

Recycling is mainly applied to containers used for transport packaging such as pallets, turnover containers, large packaging boxes, and plastic buckets. For easy-to-recycle plastic packaging, physical and chemical modifications can be used to regenerate, allowing limited materials to be recycled. And those disposable plastic packaging containers that are difficult to recycle will be a good choice for incineration, landfill or replacement with biodegradable materials. Although it is difficult to point out which method is best, it should be emphasized which method is more suitable. According to the actual situation in various regions and in various fields, it is the best choice to choose the right one.

Reprinted from: China Waste Product Network