"Low-carbon" will become the main theme of convenience food packaging in the future

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made arrangements for "actively and steadily advancing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality". "Low-carbonization" has become the inevitable path for the high-quality development of the convenience food industry. In order to further promote the green and sustainable development of the convenience food industry, the "Green Development of Convenience Foods" seminar of the Noodle Products Branch of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology was recently held in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Experts and enterprise representatives at the meeting held in-depth discussions on the exploration and application of green packaging for convenience foods, jointly seeking innovative solutions for green packaging and eco-friendly packaging materials, and offering suggestions for convenience foods to achieve carbon reduction goals.

Environmental Pressure Makes Plastic Pollution Control Urgent

While plastics bring convenience to mankind, they also bring trouble. Data shows that the world produces more than 400 million tonnes of plastic each year, one third of which is used only once, equivalent to 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic dumping plastic into rivers, lakes and seas every day, and plastic food-contact materials are also among them.

"Producing 1 tonne of plastic requires consuming 3 tonnes of crude oil. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of plastics, with plastic consumption reaching 80 million tonnes and annual crude oil consumption of 240 million tonnes." Jin Zhengyu, professor at the School of Food Science of Jiangnan University and vice chairman of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, said frankly that in addition to huge resource consumption, plastics also affect the climate and bring environmental pollution.

According to Jin Zhengyu, currently the raw materials for convenience food packaging are mostly petroleum-based materials such as PP, PE and PET, and end-of-life treatment is mainly incineration. Moreover, greenhouse gases are emitted at every stage of the plastic life cycle, including the extraction and transportation of fossil fuels, the refining and manufacturing of plastics, and the incineration of plastic waste. In addition, once waste plastic enters the environment it has a lasting impact; plastic degradation takes 400-500 years, and careless disposal can easily cause ecological disasters.

Experts at the meeting pointed out that the control of plastic pollution is already urgent. As early as January 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution", proposing that by 2025, management systems for the production, circulation, consumption, recycling and disposal of plastic products should be basically established and a multi-party co-governance system should be basically formed. On June 20 this year, the "Measures for the Administration of the Use and Reporting of Single-Use Plastic Products by Operators in the Commercial Sector" was officially implemented, proposing to prohibit and restrict by law the use of non-degradable plastic bags and other single-use plastic products.

Liu Haoyu, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology and vice chairman of the Noodle Products Branch of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, reminded that the green development of convenience foods must solve the plastic problem, but must not fall into the misunderstanding of "plastic is the root of all evil" and demonize plastic. In fact, plastic has played an important role in production and daily life; pollution problems arise only because recycling and disposal are inadequate. "Finding solutions to the plastic problem so that plastic can be degradable, recyclable and incinerable and achieve carbon neutrality is the fundamental way to solve the problem."

Green Packaging Materials Have Huge Development Potential for the Future

In recent years, with the rise of the "stay-at-home economy", "meals for one" and "culinary novices", consumer perceptions have changed. Convenience foods have won recognition from more and more consumers with their advantages of being delicious, safe and convenient, and their market share has continued to expand. Data shows that in 2022, the market size of convenience foods exceeded 450 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25%, and it is expected that the market size will exceed one trillion yuan in 2025. "Attracted by the broad market space, convenience food packaging has also stood at the forefront. If the convenience food market reaches a volume of 3 trillion yuan per year in the future, the packaging demand generated could reach a scale of 100 billion yuan." Jin Zhengyu said.

Bio-based packaging uses annually renewable natural biomass materials as its main raw materials, which can replace traditional petroleum-based resins, is conducive to sustainable social development, and helps achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Data shows that every 1 tonne of petroleum-based plastic replaced is equivalent to saving 3.3 tonnes of crude oil.

"When consumers choose products today, in addition to considering the product's packaging, brand and taste, green consumption concepts such as environmental protection, burden reduction and sustainability will also influence consumer behavior to a certain extent." Liu Haoyu believes that green packaging is one of the important measures to improve the ecological environment, and consumers today also recognize companies that adopt green packaging more.

Sustainable product packaging has become a key part of the convenience food industry's practice of "low-carbonization". At present, relevant universities and enterprises are exploring the application of green packaging materials in the field of convenience foods and have already achieved certain results.

Convenience foods are divided into four types: ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook and ready-to-assemble. Each type of food has different characteristics and different packaging requirements. From vacuum laminated film packaging to bio-based multilayer coextruded high-barrier film packaging, from instant noodle cup/vermicelli cup packaging to bio-based high-temperature-resistant meal bowls/boxes, from self-heating food packaging to bio-based self-heating pots, from refrigerated and frozen packaging to bio-based freezer-resistant trays... "Green food packaging is gradually upgrading while meeting practical conditions." Jin Zhengyu said.

The safety issue that consumers care about most is also the part the industry attaches the greatest importance to. "On the one hand, the raw materials of the products are all safe and traceable, and bio-based materials must meet food-contact standards when used as food-contact materials; on the other hand, in combination with the application needs of downstream customers, risk assessments are carried out on products to ensure the safety of the products in contact with food." Zhi Zhaohui, chairman of Jiangsu Longjun Environmental Protection Industrial Development Co., Ltd., said that in order to adapt to the international trend of green development and the concept of sustainable consumption, the company has long adhered to the whole-life-cycle ecological design concept of substituting materials and reducing volume at the source, saving energy and reducing consumption in the process, and reducing emissions and harm at the end, exploring a closed loop from the design end to the production end to the disposal end, actively promoting the application of green packaging in the industry, continuously advancing the resolution of environmental protection issues, and empowering the development of convenience foods.

Takayuki Yagi, deputy director of development at Nissin Foods (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., shared the company's concrete actions to reduce environmental burden by taking the replacement of packaging materials for the company's "Cup Noodle" brand and the extension of the shelf life of several convenience foods as examples, and proposed establishing a sustainable development committee. "In its daily business, the Nissin Foods Group carries out practices that conform to social ethics, is committed to protecting the global environment, and reduces environmental burden through the product life cycle." Yagi said.

Pioneering Trials as a "Green Whirlwind" Sweeps Through Convenience Food Packaging

At present, in convenience foods, a variety of bio-based packaging materials are constantly emerging, but at the implementation end there are quite a few "troubles", including high costs, doubts about safety and low consumer awareness.

Zeng Wenjie, senior project officer for sustainable food consumption and green supply chains at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), suggested that enterprises formulate development goals according to their own circumstances, find the right focus, refine measures, carry out upstream and downstream coordination and improve their sustainability level; starting from creating one or two single products, gradually expanding, pioneering trials, and gradually improving the development path to ultimately reach the ideal state. Ye Shengyong, a researcher at the instant noodle R&D center of Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp., suggested that enterprises strengthen R&D on the technical side to further control costs.

Liu Haoyu said that building a science popularization and education base for green food packaging, telling the story of green packaging materials well, and actively communicating and interacting with consumers are feasible measures to raise consumer awareness. Wang Yajun, director of the development department of Nissin Foods (China) Investment Co., Ltd., holds the same view. He said that consumers currently have increasingly high requirements for food and are paying more and more attention to plastic pollution, but voices on eco-friendly food packaging materials are very weak, and he suggested combining the two, creating a dedicated "green window" and carrying out environmental protection publicity and science popularization activities to attract more consumer attention.

Adopting green packaging, reducing plastic pollution, and promoting a "green whirlwind" in convenience food packaging cannot be achieved without the drive of enterprises. "The replacement of green packaging materials requires a developmental perspective and forward-looking concepts, and leading enterprises must have the responsibility and commitment to lead the industry forward; enterprises should also be aware of potential dangers in times of peace, look to the future, and prepare technological reserves in advance for unforeseen needs." Liu Haoyu pointed out that whether out of corporate social responsibility or to solve the pain points of the industry's future sustainable development, leading enterprises should make a difference in promoting the application of eco-friendly packaging materials.

"Last year, Master Kong made a sugar-free tea that achieved carbon neutrality, and previously it also specially created a 'label-free PET bottle' to practice the low-carbon concept, reducing the amount of packaging materials used." He Qiang, a researcher at the instant noodle R&D center of Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp., said that in addition to the application of mono-materials, degradable materials have more possibilities and room for imagination in the production and use of composite packaging.

"As a member of the food industry, ensuring consumers' food safety is the first priority for convenience foods." Sun Ruiyu, manager of the food safety center of Jinmailang Food Co., Ltd., said that sustainability, green environmental protection and low carbon are directions the company has always focused on, and green eco-friendly packaging materials for convenience foods must be used on the premise of ensuring food safety; if food safety cannot be guaranteed, it is meaningless no matter how eco-friendly the material is.

"Although bio-based materials are more eco-friendly and healthy, I had always been concerned about whether bio-based materials are truly safe. Through the exchanges and discussions at the meeting, this concern was dispelled." Cui Guochun, product manager of Keming Noodle Industry Co., Ltd., said that the cost of bio-based materials is currently much higher, and there is a contradiction between the cost of eco-friendly materials and environmental protection concepts. As a product manager, when doing the overall product design, he would coordinate the two well to make the product more environmentally friendly.

"Now that people's living standards have improved, consumption has shifted from 'eating enough' to 'eating well', and is accelerating toward 'eating nutritious and healthy'. Green packaging is an important part of this." Li Liwei, supervisor of auxiliary materials procurement at Jinshahe Noodle Industry Co., Ltd., said that focusing on green packaging is preparation for the future, and he believes that as long as enterprises use it properly and publicize it well to consumers, the development of green packaging will come naturally, and Jinshahe will also continue to pay attention to the development of green packaging.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379435.html