Is the food or cosmetics you buy "over-packaged"? The reporter learned from the national standard special press conference held by the State Administration for Market Regulation (the SAMR) on September 2 that the new mandatory national standard Restriction of Excessive Packaging for Food and Cosmetics Products will be officially implemented on September 1, 2023. According to the new standard, the packaging of grain and its processed products with more than three layers, other types of food and cosmetics packaging with more than four layers, or the packaging materials of commodities with expensive materials can be preliminarily judged as "excessive packaging".
About 30% to 40% of municipal solid waste is packaging waste
Commodity packaging has the functions of protecting commodities, beautifying products, guiding consumption, and increasing the added value of commodities. But at present, some food and cosmetics companies on the market are over-packing, not environmentally friendly, and not economical. They are manifested by too many packaging layers, excessive air gaps, and high costs, which exceed the basic functions of the packaging itself. Excessive packaging and passing on the cost to consumers not only wastes resources, but also increases the burden on consumers, and even causes pollution to the environment.
According to research, packaging waste accounts for about 30% to 40% of all the urban domestic wastes, in China. And most of them are generated by excessive packaging. It can be seen that excessive packaging of commodities wastes resources and energy, and increases the burden on consumers, and the packaging waste generated is even more polluting to the environment.
In order to solve the problem of excessive packaging of food and cosmetics, the the SAMR's Standards Committee, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments, organized relevant standardization technical committees and technical institutions to revise the 2009 version of the standard, formulate and publish a new mandatory state standard, Restriction of Excessive Packaging for Food and Cosmetics Products.
"LAC" - A simple way to judge whether a product is over-packaged
When buying food and cosmetics products, how can consumers quickly determine whether the packaging is excessive packaging?
The new standard specifies requirements for packaging void ratio, packaging layers and packaging cost, as well as corresponding calculation, testing and determination methods. Among them, the method for determining excessive packaging of goods is greatly simplified. Consumers only need to check the weight or volume of the goods themselves, and measure the volume of the outermost packaging. Through calculations, they can preliminarily determine whether the goods have excessive packaging problems. In addition, the new standard also strictly limits the number of packaging layers. Food and processed products should not exceed three-layer packaging, and other foods and cosmetics should not exceed four-layer packaging.
In this regard, Wei Hong, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the SAMR, further explained that consumers can generally judge whether goods are excessively packaged through LAC ("Look, Ask and Calculate"). "Look" means a preliminary judgment by visual inspection to see whether the outer packaging is luxurious and whether the packaging materials are expensive. Then "Ask" about the number of packaging layers. Finally measuring or estimating the dimensions of the outer packaging to "Calculate" if it exceeds the maximum allowable outer packaging volume. The above three simple steps can generally judge excessive packaging. From the perspective of environmental protection, consumers are advised to avoid buying over-packaged products.
Two-year transitional period before the new standard takes effect in September 2023
The reporter noted that the new standard will be officially implemented on September 1, 2023, setting a two-year transition period for enterprises and the market.
In this regard, Chen Hongjun, another official from the SAMR, said that after the release of the new standard, food and cosmetics manufacturers need to design conforming product packaging in accordance with the requirements of the new standard. At the same time, they need to ship out the inventory packaging and finished goods during this period, considering cosmetics commodities have a long shelf life and a relatively long consumption cycle in circulation. In order to avoid affecting production and business activities and generating new waste, a two-year implementation transition period has been set up on the basis of extensive consultation with relevant industrial departments, industry associations and enterprises. During this period, companies should design product packaging for compliance according to standard requirements, and produce and put them into use as soon as possible; at the same time, speed up the consumption of inventory packaging and products that have entered the market to ensure that products produced and sold after the implementation of the standard meet the new standard .
After the two-year transition period, the market will not allow the reproduction and sale of food and cosmetics that do not meet the new standards. Therefore, enterprises are called upon to rectify and meet the standards as soon as possible during the transition period. At the same time, consumers are also urged not to buy over-packaged products, and to practice the concept of green and low-carbon consumption with their own actions.
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