The "Research Report on Sustainable Development of Plastic Packaging in China" was released on March 28, 2025. Fully understand the detailed content and strategic significance of the report:
1. Background and significance of the report
The report was jointly compiled and released by the China Packaging Federation and the Institute of Macroeconomics of the National Development and Reform Commission, aiming to unify understanding, build consensus, and promote the exploration of sustainable development paths for plastic packaging suitable for China's national conditions.
Focusing on the reality that "plastics cannot be completely replaced", the goal of "minimizing resource consumption and environmental impact" is achieved through the optimization of various links in the life cycle.
2. Key data and pollution pain points
The annual plastic packaging consumption is about 45 million tons, accounting for about 34% of the global plastic production;
The food sector accounts for 43%, disposable shopping bags and other 11%, express packaging 9%, clothing 8%, beauty 6%, and other 24%.
Global plastic production in 2023 is about 414 million tons, and it is expected to double by 2050, with 2/3 becoming short-term waste, of which about 42% is used for packaging.
The most prominent difficulty of plastic pollution is that soft plastic packaging is difficult to recycle, has a high degree of dispersion, and has low economic value.
3. International experience and system benchmarking
The report lists specific institutional measures in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries in the sustainable development of plastic packaging:
Eco-design standard
Prohibition and restriction management system
Extended producer responsibility system
Mandatory use of recycled materials
Deposit recovery mechanism
Sustainable packaging and carbon footprint certification.
It is mentioned that the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) requires that the proportion of recycled materials in plastic packaging reach 30% and 65% by 2030/2040 respectively.
4. China's path and strategic recommendations
The report proposes that the sustainable development of plastic packaging should cover the entire process of "design-production-use-recycling-disposal", and proposes the following specific paths:
Link: Core strategy
Design: Comprehensively promote ecological design, give priority to recyclable and waste reduction functions
Production: Establish green supply chain management and increase the proportion of recycled materials
Use: Strengthen the concept of reduction and reuse, and encourage alternative packaging
Recycling: Promote high-value recycling and improve the efficiency of soft plastic recycling
Disposal: Strictly avoid plastic leakage and ensure safe handling
The report emphasizes that China currently still has shortcomings in the following aspects:
Eco-design standards and certification systems are not yet perfect.
The system for the use of recycled materials has not been formally established.
The promotion and application of degradable plastics still faces technical and cost challenges.
The chemical recycling system needs to be developed.
5. Industry implementation and outlook
Many companies have carried out practical exploration:
For example, Dow, Henkel, large Chinese companies and packaging users promote lightweight, label-free, and transparent design to improve the friendliness of packaging recycling.
Multi-energy chain companies actively participate in the construction of sustainable paths
The "China Plastic Packaging Sustainable Development Research Report (2025)" takes "circular economy" as the core theme, comprehensively analyzes the life cycle of plastic packaging, the problems it faces and international benchmarking experience, and proposes a sustainable development strategy path that conforms to national conditions. This has important guiding value for government policy formulation, enterprise transformation and upgrading, and promoting the green development of the entire industry!
