Green Zhejiang: Two Major Green Development Themes, "Decarbonizing the Paper Industry" and "Replacing Plastic with Paper," Bring the Paper Industry a New Frontier

Recently, the opening ceremony of the specialty class of the Jinguang Paper-Based Materials Industry College of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology and the Industry-Education Integration Innovation Development Forum were held at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology. Shan Shengdao, Vice President of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology; Liu Weilong, Director of the Consumer Goods Industry Division of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology; Hu Kaitang, Chairman of the Zhejiang Papermaking Society; Xin Hao, Secretary-General of Green Zhejiang; and Jiang Junde, General Manager of Human Resources for Sinar Mas Group China, attended the event.

The Jinguang Paper-Based Materials Industry College is co-built by the School of Environmental and Resource Sciences of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology and Jinguang Paper (China) Investment Co., Ltd., in order to fully implement the main strategy of "one college in multiple bodies, four-wheel drive" to strengthen the university through openness, improve the quality of applied-talent training, and enhance the university's ability to serve local economic and social development. Jinguang Paper (China) Investment Co., Ltd. has 17 wholly owned or controlled pulp and paper enterprises and more than 20 forest farms, with annual output value exceeding RMB 100 billion, ranking first among domestic paper companies. The Light Chemical Engineering major of the School of Environmental and Resource Sciences of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology is a provincial "13th Five-Year Plan" specialty major and a provincial first-class undergraduate major, having supplied a large number of outstanding graduates to the paper-based materials industry. The industry college focuses on the digital transformation, intelligent manufacturing and green production of the modern paper-based materials industry, exploring and practicing deep industry-education integration and collaborative education.

At the Industry-Education Integration Innovation Development Forum, Xin Hao, Secretary-General of Green Zhejiang, introduced from an environmental perspective the opportunities for the paper-based materials industry in today's green development and explained the background and policies of China's carbon emission reduction and paper-for-plastic substitution.

01 The era's requirement for green manufacturing

Green manufacturing runs through the entire lifecycle of manufacturing resources, the manufacturing process, and product use and disposal. Green manufacturing requires attention not only to manufacturing resources — including the raw material resources used and the energy consumed to support manufacturing — but also to the manufacturing process and the various emissions and waste that may affect the environment during product use and disposal.

The paper industry uses and discharges large amounts of water, the organic content in its wastewater is high, and its wastewater discharge, especially chemical oxygen demand discharge, is the largest among all industries. The production process discharges solid waste such as rotted pulp, pulp residue, bark, wood chips, grass roots and coal ash slag, and boilers burning coal also produce exhaust gas and smoke, so green manufacturing in the paper industry is of great significance.

At both the national and Zhejiang provincial levels, great attention is paid to green manufacturing. In Zhejiang Jingxin Green [2020] No. 78, the "Guiding Opinions of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology on Accelerating the Green Development of Manufacturing," the guiding ideology is clearly stated: in accordance with the new goals and new positioning put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his inspection of Zhejiang — "strive to become an important window for comprehensively displaying the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics in the new era" — fully implement the strategy of a strong manufacturing province; guided by the new development philosophy; taking low-carbon industrial structure, cleaner production processes, efficient use of energy and resources, and regional economic circularity as the path; implement key green manufacturing projects; build a green manufacturing system focused on green factories, green parks and green manufacturing pilot zones; comprehensively enhance new competitive advantages in manufacturing; build a benchmark region for green development of manufacturing nationwide; and make green the most moving color of Zhejiang's development.

In September 2015, the leaders of 193 UN member states adopted the global Sustainable Development Goals for the three major areas of economy, society and resource environment to be achieved from 2015 to 2030. Among these 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 9 is industry, innovation and infrastructure, and Goal 12 is responsible consumption and production, both closely related to the green development of our paper-based industry.

02 The paper industry moves from pollution reduction to carbon reduction

In the past, from an environmental perspective, attention to the paper industry focused more on energy saving and pollution reduction. In terms of water saving, the paper industry is one of China's five major water-intensive industries; as industrial water prices continue to rise, saving on this expense has great potential for enterprises' long-term development. In recent years, large domestic paper enterprises have invested heavily in the R&D and upgrading of water-saving technologies and equipment, deeply tapping water-saving potential and raising the reuse rate of water, all reaching international advanced levels.

In terms of pollution reduction, to effectively control pollution and minimize the adverse environmental impact of papermaking, paper enterprises have continuously intensified technological upgrading, eliminated outdated capacity, adopted world-advanced treatment processes, and, through measures such as improved management and comprehensive utilization, cut pollution at the source, raised resource use efficiency, and reduced and avoided the generation and discharge of pollutants in production. Some of China's paper enterprises have already pioneered green development models, with environmental indicators better than national standards and some at internationally leading levels.

Today, the paper industry has entered the carbon reduction stage. In 2020, at the 75th UN General Assembly, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed that China strive to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and work hard to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. At the 2021 National Two Sessions, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality were written into the government work report for the first time.

For China, the goals were proposed first because climate change is a global problem facing humanity — as countries' carbon dioxide emissions rise and greenhouse gases surge, threatening life systems, countries around the world have formed a global pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and second because, as the world's factory with an increasingly complete industrial chain and growing domestic manufacturing and processing capacity, China's carbon emissions are accelerating, yet our oil and gas resources are relatively scarce, so developing a low-carbon economy and reshaping the energy system have important security significance. It can be said that China, actively participating in the international community's carbon emission reduction, actively following the global green and low-carbon development trend, and actively laying out carbon neutrality, already has the conditions to achieve carbon neutrality. This also brings new opportunities for the new development of the paper industry.

In terms of carbon reduction in the paper industry, we should achieve three peaks: in concept, in decision-making and in action:

(1) Concept peak.

We should deeply recognize that carbon peaking is a major strategic decision made by the state after careful deliberation; in future development plans, project investment, engineering construction and production management, we need to change our thinking as soon as possible, sort out our priorities, and turn the concepts of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into the daily actions of enterprises.

(2) Decision-making peak.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has clearly expressed support for key industries and key enterprises with the conditions to take the lead in peaking. It is time for paper enterprises to do a good job in carbon emission accounting work, and based on the principles of measurability, reportability and verifiability, to choose the best possible verification methods. We believe that taking the lead in achieving carbon peaking will not only gain policy support but also seize the initiative in market competition.

(3) Action peak.

A carbon source is the source of carbon dioxide production, while a carbon sink is the absorption and storage of carbon dioxide through natural ecosystems such as forests. We can increase carbon sinks by planting trees, reduce carbon sources through energy saving and emission reduction, and actively participate in carbon trading through energy substitution — for example, switching from coal to gas and purchasing renewable energy — to conscientiously fulfill corporate responsibility.

03 Paper for plastic welcomes a new outlet for the paper industry

From January 1, 2021, the "plastic restriction order" was upgraded to a "plastic ban," and we can no longer buy single-use products such as disposable plastic straws, tableware or stirrers. It is hoped that by 2040 single-use plastic products will gradually disappear from our daily lives. For the paper industry, the implementation of the plastic restriction order plus the rise in people's environmental awareness and consumption upgrading mean that economical and eco-friendly base materials are appearing in end-consumer packaging, making paper-for-plastic substitution an important trend, and the paper industry is welcoming a new outlet.

Restricting the use of disposable plastic straws and disposable plastic tableware benefits the development of food-grade white card, while restricting the use of disposable plastic bags benefits carry-bag white card. Food-grade white card, for instance, is not only degradable, recyclable and pollution-free, in line with environmental concepts, but is also oil-resistant and heat-resistant and can replace plastic products, suitable for packaging of medicine boxes, cigarette boxes, milk cartons, meal packs and fast food.

China's paper product capacity is ample and its performance excellent, able to meet the substitution demand under the plastic restriction order. By 2025, white card's substitution for single-use plastic tableware in the catering and food delivery sector is expected to reach 2.34 million tons, and the predicted demand scale for substituting non-degradable plastic bags in retail fields such as supermarkets and pharmacies is 1.17 million tons, totaling more than 3.5 million tons of market demand. New high-performance paper-based functional materials have broad market prospects.

However, paper-for-plastic substitution also faces many technical challenges. Well-known chains such as Starbucks, McDonald's and Heytea have gradually reduced their use of plastic straws, replacing them with paper straws or direct-drink cup lids, and most consumers take a favorable attitude; but as paper straws are promoted and applied, their impact on drink taste has gradually become apparent. A paper straw has little effect at the beginning of drinking, but over time it becomes soft, sometimes bits of paper from the straw are sipped up, and after prolonged use the glue may even come apart — a poor experience. Therefore, food paper products have a long way to go on the environmental path.

Coca-Cola is determined to promote bottles made of 100% paper. How can a paper bottle be given a "moldable" structure so that it can withstand the pressure of carbonated drinks in a sealed state? In this Paboco paper bottle, to strengthen the bottle's strength, the bottles are composed of just a single sheet rather than multiple sheets of paper fiber material, thereby ensuring firmness between the fibers. By combining product design concepts with this powerful fiber mixture, the paper bottle can withstand strong pressure without breaking.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pays great attention to the role of innovation leadership. At the 2021 General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, he said that we should fully give play to the leading and driving role of scientific and technological innovation and strive to make new breakthroughs in original innovation and achieve leapfrog development in important scientific and technological fields. We should also lead green development with innovation:

(1) Government guidance, enterprise as the main body. Give play to the government's guiding role in advancing the green development of manufacturing, and strengthen institutional innovation and policy incentives. Further strengthen the principal position of enterprises in advancing the green development of manufacturing, stimulate enterprises' vitality and creativity, and actively fulfill social responsibility.

(2) Transform the existing stock, optimize the increment. Accelerate the green transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing, encourage the use of green and clean energy, raise resource use efficiency, eliminate outdated equipment and processes, and reduce pollutant generation at the source. Actively lead emerging industries toward high-starting-point green development, strengthen green design, develop green products and develop green industries.

(3) Innovation-driven, application-led. Actively promote scientific and technological innovation, management innovation and business model innovation in the green development of manufacturing, and develop a batch of advanced and applicable green process technologies and equipment. Accelerate the application of advanced technologies and equipment for energy saving and emission reduction, industrial water saving and comprehensive resource utilization, and promote the implementation of a batch of key green manufacturing projects.

——This article is reproduced from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-377709.html