Abstract: Based on the review of green economy and green packaging regulations, in order to protect the environment and sustainable development, the environmental cost calculation of packaging is particularly carried out, and the four major principles of environmental packaging design are proposed.
Keywords: green economy; environmental packaging; environmental costs; packaging regulations
The United Nations held a conference on human environment in Stockholm, Sweden, from 5 to 16 June 1972, which triggered a worldwide green revolution. Some economists have incorporated environmental factors into the national economic accounting system to develop a new national economic accounting system. This is green GDP. Opened the curtain for a green economy.
According to the principle of economics, the process of increasing total economic output is bound to be a process of increasing consumption of natural resources and a process of environmental pollution and ecological destruction. From GDP, we can only see the total economic output or total economic income, but do not see the environmental pollution and ecological damage behind it. How large is the environmental cost in economic development? This is the issue that we must focus on.
1. Green Economy Green GDP
Green GDP refers to the green GDP. It is an adjustment to the GDP index and is the gross domestic product after deducting the environmental costs invested in economic actions. Over the past 10 years, many foreign experts have devoted themselves to this research and have made significant progress.
There are many countries that implement green GDP, mainly European and American developed countries such as Germany, France, Norway, Finland, the United States, and Japan. They started environmental accounting and incorporated environmental costs into product costs, with emphasis on mineral resources, biological resources, fluid resources (hydraulics), land, air pollution, and two types of water pollutants (nitrogen and phosphorus). To this end, they have established a detailed statistical system that includes energy accounting, forest accounting, and exhaust emissions, water excretions (mainly excrement for residents and agricultural processing), recycling of packaging waste, and environmental expenses, etc. The economic and green GDP accounting system has laid an important foundation.
Especially worth mentioning is Mexico. Mexico is a developing country and it has actually taken the lead in implementing a green economy and green GDP. With the support of the United Nations, Mexico included oil, forests, land, water, and air in the scope of environmental economic accounting in 1990. These natural assets and their changes were then compiled into physical indicator data. Finally, various natural assets were evaluated through valuation. The physical quantity data is converted into currency data. This led to the depletion costs of petroleum, timber, and groundwater and the cost of environmental protection losses on the basis of traditional domestic production NDP.
2. Green Packaging International Regulations
In June 1991, the United Nations held a conference on environmental and development in developing countries in Beijing and issued the Beijing Declaration. In June 1992, the United Nations held the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 116 heads of state and more than 8,000 representatives from 172 countries participated in the UN Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development of the Green Economy. The overall requirements are: (1) Human beings are at the center of environment and development, and the environment and development are inseparable; (2) Formulating policies for sustainable development, formulating policies, and formulating social and economic development plans and regulations Considering development as a whole; (3) Industrial development that does not harm the environment and a modest scale of consumption; (4) The order of eugenics for management objectives should reflect the context applicable to the environment and development; (5) Strengthen the protection and management of resources for development. . As a result, the legislative management of green packaging has entered a new stage of closed loop management of materials that is compatible with the environment and compatible with the environment.
Review of environmental and packaging development: Since 1978, industrialized countries in Europe have developed a green economy and have initiated the gradual introduction of “green signs†for product packaging in international trade to protect the environment and develop packaging. Any person who bears the "green mark" indicates that the product packaging meets the requirements of environmental protection from production to final use. A product package can only obtain a “pass†to enter the country’s market if it has obtained a country’s environmental label, or it is forbidden to enter the country. Since 1986, some EU countries have successively enacted relevant green regulations such as the “Packaging Waste Disposal Law†and prohibited the entry of packages that do not meet environmental requirements. In 1991, the European Union issued the "Packaging/Packaging Waste Directive."
After the “Rio Declarationâ€, in December 1994, the European Union issued a directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management, Directive 94/62/EC, on the environment and development requirements for imported product packaging. The country implements decrees or other measures as required. From January 1, 1998, only packaged goods that meet all major requirements can be sold on the EU market. The directive also includes the recycling and reuse of packaging waste. It is hoped that manufacturers and merchants will take responsibility for the environmental impact of the packaging waste of their products, and realize effective recycling and pollution prevention of packaging waste. The implementation of this decree puts forward clearer and more stringent requirements for how manufacturers in various countries deal with products and packaging.
Since January 1996, the International Organization for Standardization ISO has successively introduced a series of international standards such as "ISO14001 Environment System", "ISO14014 Environmental Label", "ISO14026 Life Cycle Assessment", and so on, to develop a green economy, standardize packaging, and promote the development of green packaging. It has played a very positive role. After several years of practice, companies all over the world have begun to carefully consider packaging design and material selection, and strive to increase the environmental performance, reduce waste, and reduce packaging costs while satisfying the protection, advertising, and descriptive nature of packaging. At the same time, the World Trade Organization’s WTO, Greenpeace International (GP), the International Brand Federation (IBF), local non-government environmental NGOs, etc. also emphasized environmental and development, product/packaging material recycling and recycling resources. use. These green packaging international regulations have contributed to the sustainable development of the green economy. (to be continued)