The trend of environmental protection through the years has always been focused on facing the gradual decrease of natural resources or destroying the natural ecology. Besides the subject of business earning profits, this should be the continuous responsibilities of corporations and brands, where eco-friendly methods should be continuously developed and invented for the next generation of human and nature.
The subjective of eco-friendly can be the features for corporations and brands to stand out in the marketplace, which is not only the phenomenal efforts for the planet, but it also composes the customers perceive the business in a positive perspective with high respect. Therefore, we would like to mention the common guidelines of green packaging, which might inspire business for the innovative ideas of usages.
Definition of green packaging
The green packaging is acknowledged as eco-friendly packaging; it is also entitled as environmentally friendly packaging. It can be achieved by the adopted methods of recycling, compostable and degradable products. The approach can be the reduction of resources, materials, quantity to avoid waste generation. Additionally, the field of efforts including packaging materials, printing ink, manufacturing, disposal, which is the packaging studies begin with the collection of raw materials, material processing, manufacturing products, product usage, and waste recycling, until its final effort of the whole process, and it is conducive to protect the natural environment and avoiding damage to the environment caused by waste. The most important matter is how designers should integrate the concept of eco-friendly techniques into the creativity for the corporations and brands, which is to create the visibility of packaging products in the marketplace, and liable for our planet simultaneously.
The connotation of green packaging
- Recyclable – This refers to the processing of regenerative materials to be used again, to prevent the waste of potentially valuable resources, and reduces the consumption of raw materials. Furthermore, this is the ultimate goal of reducing energy consumption and pollutions. The recyclable materials mainly include four categories – glass, metal, paper, and plastic. Therefore, the approach is a classification for the regeneration of domestic waste materials, can improve the quality of resource-based products and the economic value of recycling.
- Reduce – The truthfulness of the excessive packaging design is, the customers have been charging the expense of additional packaging materials, and to buy the waste that needs to be discarded. Therefore, minimize the materials will reduce the quantity of waste, and it will greatly help our planet. Understand the properties of materials, and utilize its characteristics to maximizing the substantive function of the packaging design, it is the approach for the main connotation of reducing waste. Furthermore, reducing the print area can also be another enormous action to express the spirit of green packaging, which requires the design technique for turning the limited resources into a magical outcome.
- Reuse – The essence of packaging design is to protect the product, and create the visual appeal for marketing visibility. However, because of the waste of resources, and the influence of environmental pollution, people, found the solutions of reusable packaging design. The creativities including collectible product containers that can be used as multi-purpose, environmental shopping bags avoid the waste of plastic bags, or the functional packaging contribute the utility of user-friendly that enhance the opportunities for the customers to retain, etc.
- Edible – The evolution of edible packaging invention, it is to transform the traditional packaging methods, and is combined with the concept of edible resources for the achievement of reducing waste. The fields of creations including an edible spoon, ice cream cone, the containers of food and drink, wrappers, and anything can be created by using the natural resources. Nutritional additives and spices can also be added in the edible packaging; it becomes nutritious and tasty for the additional benefit.
- Biodegradable – Before designing product packaging, it is crucial to analyze its consequence of ecological influence. The solution is to contemplate the bio-composite packaging materials that can be naturally degraded by physical and biological factors (light or heat, or microbial action), and it is the intention of reducing environmental pollution from non-degradable plastic materials and disposable packaging. Most importantly, the degradable materials can’t be toxic to the existing environment, and it must be completely degraded from a certain period.
- Compostable – Compostable packaging has the same notion as biodegradable packaging, both terms share the same objective of breaking down the packaging materials to nature harmlessly. Besides microbial biodegradation, compostable packaging materials should produce a good value of nutrient-rich soil for the natural improvement; it is to return the composting materials to the natural cycle, which it does not contain heavy metals or toxic substances. The most important fact is to sustain the life of nature, and beneficial to the plants’ growth.
The common materials of green packaging
- Eco-friendly paper – Recycled paper is one of the popular choices, it can be further divided into “pre-consumer waste” and “post-consumer waste.” Pre-consumer waste refers to the discarded printing waste that has never been used or purchased, and post-consumer waste is the term of discarded used printing paper. Both enter into the manufacturing process to be re-used.
- Natural materials – Biodegradable materials can be broken down by microorganisms in the soil, and eventually, return to nature with non-toxic substances. The materials can be varied, such as cotton, hemp, silk, bamboo, wood, rattan, and other materials.
- Edible materials – It mainly adopted in the packaging of the edible product by using natural edible substances, through a variety of processing methods made for anti-corrosion, water-retaining, and other comprehensive functions. The common materials are starch, proteins, polysaccharides, fats and compound classes.
- Eco-friendly ink – This is the term of environmental protection and safety ink varieties that do not cause a threat or harm consequence to human health and ecological environment. The common inks are water-based ink, vegetable ink, UV ink, bio-solvent ink.
