# 'Green' Packaging Gaining Ground

While the usage of eco-friendly options is rising, adoption is limited to upscale releases due to high costs. Most makers recycle and employ fewer materials instead.

China's export manufacturers are increasingly adopting earth-friendly alternatives to traditional packaging choices. PLA is replacing petroleum-based polymers to produce degradable plastic containers and gift bags. More innovative solutions include microwave-, oven- and refrigerator-safe food canisters made from natural wheat straw pulp.

Such options, however, are utilized limited to high-end releases targeting the US and the EU. At present, conventional materials still hold sway as they are cost-effective, functional and practical. In most cases, incorporating environment-friendly packaging raises manufacturing outlay 30 percent.

Wheat straw pulp containers, for example, are roughly 50 percent more expensive than plastic foam. A lot of the natural raw material currently stands at 5,000 to 6,000 yuan ($731 to $877). Gift and packaging bags manufactured from paper processed with pulp culled from sustainable forests cost 2 to 5 percent more as well.

To heed the growing necessitate ecologically safe practices, however, suppliers took to recycling instead. Paper waste is reduced to a pulp and reprocessed into new sheets. Others are simplifying designs to make certain minimal usage of materials.

Standardized packaging is in fact the norm at many large home appliance companies so that wastage can be reduced. Buyers'logos and patterns differentiate the cartons, but even then, prints are limited to three colors. Modifications, however, are accepted for a fee.

Still you will find others that assist clients to balance minimum wastage and functionality. Electric kettle manufacturer Guangdong Longde Group Co. Ltd collaborates with buyers to make certain its recycled paper packaging can still provide optimum protection.

Reusable, degradable alternatives

Paper is increasingly being used to replace wood and EPS foam as packaging material for home appliances. The inner padding or cushioning for the cartons now comes in corrugated or honeycomb paper board. In contrast to EPS foam and wood, paper can be reused in multiple ways and is cost-effective. **[skip hire tadley](https://www.reading-recycling.co.uk/)** EPS foam with honeycomb paper board for the cushioning is estimated to cut outlay by about 20 percent.

Cardboard can also be being adopted in lieu of film packaging for small home appliances because it is more affordable and simpler to recycle. The plastic can be used to laminate paper gift boxes as well. This type of surface treatment, however, results in paper that is harder to recycle. As such, several companies are now actually incorporating the more earth-friendly UV oil finish, which costs exactly like film laminates.

Shandong Teanhe Green Pak Science and Technology Co. Ltd, meanwhile, uses exactly the same papermaking process to produce ecologically safe food and medical packaging products produced from natural wheat straw pulp. The food-grade items are nontoxic, 100 to 120 C oil- and water-resistant, and microwave-, oven- and refrigerator-safe. Not only can the containers be recycled, they are able to also degrade into fertilizer after being buried in soil for 100 days.

Concerns over cost, practicality

Generally speaking, it is the large and foreign-invested businesses that first delved into implementing measures toward achieving sustainable production, including developing environment-friendly packaging. But it has not spread widely enough to small and locally owned operations. As such, green manufacturing has yet to attain economies of scale. Consequently, costs are often higher.

Shandong Teanhe's workaround over the purchase price issue is to target the midrange and high-end market. In so doing, the company has had the opportunity to publish 30 percent annual growth since 2008. Even then, R&D has been carried out to boost processing and lower outlay for the wheat straw containers.