In the future, green, intelligent, high-efficiency and multi-functionality will be the development trend of packaging. In order to comply with this trend, the China Packaging Federation formulated the "China Packaging Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)" in December last year. The plan pointed out that by 2020, the localization rate of green and high-performance packaging materials will reach more than 35%; more than 60% of food and drug packaging production information can be queried, flow can be traced, responsibility can be traced, and some high-end packaging can be recalled after expiration. Packaging products and related technologies have reached the international leading level. By then, the annual revenue of China's packaging industry is expected to reach 2.5 trillion yuan.
As one of the four major packaging materials, the revenue of China's plastic packaging business (including plastic packaging boxes, containers and plastic packaging films) in 2015 was about 274.9 billion yuan, accounting for more than 15% of the packaging business. Plastic packaging is also advancing in the direction of green, intelligent and efficient.
Plastic is one of the four basic materials for packaging, and packaging is the largest field of plastic application. In order to meet the needs of packaging for reduced, reliable, responsible, and personalized packaging, innovative raw materials and processes are emerging one after another.
Food and beverage packaging
According to the report of Smithers Pira, a British market research company, the value of the global flexible plastic packaging market will grow at an average annual growth rate of 3.4%, and 70% of the demand comes from the food industry. Degradable and sustainable development have become the main trends.
People take food as their priority. In order to further strengthen food safety supervision, in October 2016, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the China Food and Drug Administration jointly issued the "General Safety Requirements for Food Safety National Standards for Food Contact Materials and Products" (GB4806.1-2016) , covering 53 related standard systems. Among them, there are clear regulations on the migration of plastic resins, plastic materials and products, rubber materials and products for food contact, as well as various organic substances that are potentially harmful to the human body. The introduction of this regulatory system has attracted great attention from the industry, and will definitely play an important role in promoting the safety of food packaging materials including plastics.
In addition to safety, innovation and personalized design are the focus of food and beverage companies, and they have launched innovative packaging to meet product demands and promote sales. For example, Nongfu Spring launched a cylindrical and square "tea π" innovative bottle, which won 1 billion in seven months, becoming one of the most successful big single products in 2016.
Daily chemical packaging
The packaging innovation of daily chemical products mainly lies in functional packaging. In addition to the protective function, it is also required to gradually improve its safety and convenience. High oxygen barrier materials, moisture-proof materials, anti-counterfeiting and intelligent packaging are the main development directions. For example, the HD sunscreen bottle, which won the 2016 DuPont Packaging Innovation Gold Award, has three major innovations, namely the fine mist spray head, the "lock head" that is easy to open, and the magic wand technology that allows the spray head to rotate at will, which is both practical and beautiful.
Environmental protection, packaging miniaturization or light weight have gradually become important factors in daily chemical packaging. In addition, packaging companies use more degradable and renewable materials, and carry out unified recovery and recycling of packaging waste.
