Rethinking the Waste of Resources in Packaging Design

First, packaging and waste caused
Packaging as a promotional tool can bring value-added profits to enterprises, which makes the rapid development of packaging design of goods. It is precisely because packaging has increased the added value of goods, promoted the sale of goods, increased the profits of enterprises, and catered to the consumer's demand for a “decent” consumer psychology, so that the packaging of goods has become more sophisticated, and even its value far exceeds The status of the commodity itself has caused the waste of resources brought about by packaging. This phenomenon is mainly reflected in the over-packaging and packaging can only be used once.

Behind the exquisite and high-end packaging there is a shocking number of statistics. According to the statistics of the environmental sanitation department, among the 1 million tons of garbage, the packaging of various commodities is about 280,000 tons, of which 200,000 tons is a reduced overpack. According to statistics from relevant departments, China’s shirt industry produces an average of 1.2 billion shirts per year, and the amount of paper used in the box is as high as 240,000 tons, which is equivalent to cutting off 1.68 million tree-mouthed trees; our country spends annually on moon cake packaging. The cost is as high as 2.5 billion yuan. On average, for every 10 million boxes of mooncakes produced, 400 to 600 trees with a diameter of 10cm or more are to be used as packing boxes. In our daily life, there are many similar packages, ranging from shoe boxes, toothpaste boxes, cigarette cases, and tea boxes, to the packaging of electrical appliances and the packaging of large-scale mechanical equipment, no matter how colorful their designs are. Most of their fate was abandoned after they were purchased by consumers. The mere waste of wood raw materials is an astonishing number. In addition, the use of plastic, metal, glass, rubber, and other packaging materials, for a limited number of natural resources, is undoubtedly a huge waste, and more importantly, it has brought tremendous harm to the ecological environment.

Second, reflect on the waste of resources in packaging
Sociologists said that from the purchase of simple and affordable goods to the purchase of exquisitely packaged goods, from functional to aesthetic, it should be said that the people's awareness of consumption is an improvement. However, if we only pursue the gorgeousness of packaging and neglect the value of the product itself, it is a big consumer misunderstanding. Adhere to the development of conservation, priority, and in accordance with the principle of reduction, reuse, and resource, the development of circular economy is an important measure for China's "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" to speed up the transformation of economic growth mode. In the tide of building a conservation-minded society, reducing the waste of resources brought about by packaging as much as possible has become a problem that China urgently needs to solve.

1. Government decision-making In response to the current situation of huge waste of packaging resources, relevant departments in China should promptly issue corresponding laws and regulations to restrict the packaging of goods from the aspects of materials, volume and cost, and to rationally plan packaging activities. Saving package encourages. For example, in view of the phenomenon of over-packing of moon cakes, Shanghai formulated the “Appropriate Packaging Method” provision: the total cost of moon cake packaging is not more than 20% of the retail price of boxed moon cakes. Of course, solving the problem of wasting resources in packaging is not just about controlling excessive packaging problems, it is more than just regional issues. It requires national laws to regulate the packaging of all industries, especially gift packaging.

2. Consumers' consumption concept We should remind consumers of the limited resources through certain methods, and warn consumers that "over-packaging is a function and excess packaging, excessive consumption of materials, excessive volume, and High-grade materials, luxurious decoration, excess decorative functions, exaggeration in the nature of packaging, and suspicion of fraud, make consumers develop a correct outlook on consumption and social responsibility, and establish the habit of converting packaging into daily commodities with other functions, such as: The cup or bowl jelly packaging is used as a container for preparing a cosmetic mask powder. In this way, many of our packaging is no longer a one-time "living garbage." Consumers' rejection of excessive packaging and the importance of resources can effectively improve the waste of packaging resources and the generation of packaging waste.

3. Designers and corporate designers who are design principals are not only designing sales-oriented products for the benefit of the company, but more importantly, putting “human interests” first, where “interests” refer to comprehensiveness. The long-term interests are also the same for enterprises. They should take human harmony as their responsibility. Both have a very important role in reducing the waste of packaging resources.

Third, consider the new features and reusability of packaging
It is precisely because the delicate and lavish packaging is often the ultimate destination of “junk”. We advocate to fully consider the possible new functions and reuse of packaging in the packaging design process. This mainly refers to the rational packaging design, in addition to the existing product to protect the product packaging and increase the added value of the product, etc., give the package a new use of functions, extend the life of the package and flow cycle, which is also right A new request from packaging designers and consumers.

It mainly manifests in the following forms:

1. Direct use type. This mainly refers to the designer's rational design, so that the packaging of goods and other additional functions linked together, so that it has other functions outside the package, can be directly used by consumers, so as to play the role of the value of the package, This is a further deepening and promotion of packaging functions. It requires designers to carefully and carefully analyze and study the packaging materials, shapes, and structures when designing packaging. For example: through the designer's effective design, the household plastic gloves have the function of dishwashing cloth; the shoe oil packing has the function of shoe cleaning; the chewing gum packing has the function of bookmarks; the packaging of the potato chips can have the function of the pen holder; the packaging of fine cosmetics has the flower storage The function of accessories; small gift box packaging with calendar function; food packaging can be used to hold fruits and so on. After fulfilling the original basic packaging functions, these packagings continue to play a new value in use. In this process, designers need to consider the rationality, economy, and aesthetics of new packaging functions.

2. Indirect use type. That is to say, through the designer's effective design, the space for recreating is left to the consumers, so that the packaging of the goods can have new functions through the simple re-creation of consumers. For example: beautifully designed wooden moon cake box packaging, consumers can put a mirror in it to make it play the function of dressing box; beverage bottle packaging can be converted to fish farming, flower cultivation or as a lamp; home appliances carton packaging It can be made into a seat by a reasonable folding and splicing padding, etc.; the packaging of the trinkets leaves room for consumers to mix graffiti, so that it can become a new jewelry and so on. The indirect use of packaging design requires designers (including packaging designers and consumers re-creating the packaging) to spend more thought and energy, so that the limited form of packaging brings unlimited creative space.

3. Focus on re-use type. This mainly means that the commodity packaging can be reused by the industry or cross-industry before it can be recycled as waste. For example, the wooden packaging of large machinery can be used as a raw material or converted into a packaging for small utensils by a furniture factory; the moon cake basket packaging can be used again by a florist as a flower basket; and the packaging boxes of some mobile electronic products are faced with being sold. The fate of abandonment can be directly recycled and reused at the trading site. This will not only reduce packaging waste, but also enable consumers to obtain more affordable benefits.

Author: School of Design, Jiangnan University Liqiu Hua Zhao Juan

Reprinted from: Chinese Packaging