Restricting excessive packaging of food and cosmetics ushered in a new national standard-
Reject the packaging of "three inner layers and three outer layers"
Too many layers of packaging, too large voids, and too luxurious... Many consumers report that some food and cosmetics companies on the market still have excessive packaging, unenvironmental protection, and non-saving conditions, which are beyond the basic functions of the packaging itself.
In response to this phenomenon, the State Administration for Market Regulation recently issued a newly revised mandatory national standard for restricting excessive packaging requirements for food and cosmetics, which will be implemented in September 2023.
Strictly limit the number of packaging layers
"I recently bought an eyebrow pencil online. I went to the express delivery yesterday and found that the packaging box was more than three times larger than the product itself. The gaps were filled with bubble paper and bubble plastic bags. Layer.” Beijing girl Xiao Chen is a well-known beauty blogger. She told reporters that many cosmetics she buys have excessive packaging problems. Some merchants have made packaging boxes that are more exquisite than the products. It is a pity to throw them away. It takes up space and wastes resources.
"According to research, my country’s packaging waste accounts for 30% to 40% of urban domestic waste. Most of these packaging waste are generated by excessive packaging. It can be seen that excessive packaging of goods wastes resources and energy, and increases Consumers’ burden has been reduced, and the packaging waste generated has caused pollution to the environment.” said Chen Hongjun, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, “the new standards are conducive to guiding green production and consumption, and are also conducive to effective supervision. "
Chen Hongjun introduced that the new standard stipulates the requirements for packaging void ratio, packaging layers and packaging cost, as well as corresponding calculation, testing and determination methods.
The specific content includes: standardize the packaging requirements of 31 types of food and 16 types of cosmetics; greatly simplify the judgment method of excessive packaging of goods. Consumers only need to check the weight or volume of the goods themselves, and measure the volume of the outermost packaging. Calculations can be used to preliminarily determine whether the product has excessive packaging; the requirements for the number of packaging layers are strictly limited. Food and processed products should not exceed three-layer packaging, and other foods and cosmetics should not exceed four-layer packaging.
"One look, two questions, three calculations"
When buying a product, how can consumers quickly judge whether there is excessive packaging?
According to Wei Hong, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, consumers can generally judge whether a product is over-packaged by "one look, two questions, and three calculations."
"One look" means to see whether the outer packaging of the product is luxurious packaging and whether the packaging materials are expensive materials; "Second Question" means to ask the number of packaging layers to determine the grain and its quality without opening the packaging. Whether the packaging of processed products exceeds three layers, and whether other types of food and cosmetics packaging exceed four layers; “three calculations” means measuring or estimating the volume of the outer packaging and comparing it with the maximum allowable outer packaging volume to see if Exceeded.
"As long as one of the above three aspects fails, it can be preliminarily judged as not meeting the standard requirements." Wei Hong said, "From the perspective of environmental protection, we recommend that consumers avoid buying over-packaged products."
Set a 2-year transition period
Chen Hongjun introduced that after the release of the new standard, food and cosmetics manufacturers need to design product packaging compliance in accordance with the new standard requirements. At the same time, they need to absorb inventory packaging and products for sale, especially cosmetics with long shelf life and circulation. The link consumption cycle is also relatively long.
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.
At present, food and cosmetics companies need to carry out standard publicity and implementation training, so that design, R&D and production personnel have a deeper understanding of the standard technical content; according to standard requirements, product packaging is designed for compliance, and production and use as soon as possible; speed up consumption Inventory packaging and products that have entered the market to ensure that the products produced and sold after the transition period meet the standards.
According to Article 25 of the "Standardization Law", products and services that do not meet mandatory standards may not be produced, sold, imported or provided.
After the transition period, food and cosmetics that do not meet the new standards are not allowed to be reproduced and sold on the market.
"We call on companies to rectify and meet the standards as soon as possible during the transition period. At the same time, we also call on consumers to try not to buy over-packaged products and to practice the concept of green and low-carbon consumption with their own actions." Chen Hongjun said.
Kong Dechen