"Restriction of excessive packaging requirements for products, food and cosmetics" national standard revision and release

Food and cosmetics are closely related to the daily life of the people. At present, some food and cosmetics companies on the market still have excessive packaging, unenvironmental protection, and non-saving conditions, which are manifested by too many packaging layers, excessive voids, and high costs. The basic function of the packaging itself. According to research, my country's packaging waste accounts for about 30%-40% of urban domestic waste, and most of these packaging wastes are generated by excessive packaging. It can be seen that excessive packaging of commodities wastes resources and energy, and increases the burden on consumers, and the packaging waste generated is even more polluting to the environment. On September 2, the State Administration for Market Regulation held a press conference on the newly revised mandatory national standard "Restriction of excessive packaging requirements for products, food and cosmetics". The relevant person in charge said that they will use this standard as a starting point to reduce resource consumption and packaging waste generation from the source, and reduce the burden on consumers.

The new standard effectively solves the pain points of large initial packaging

Chen Hongjun, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said, “In order to solve the problem of excessive packaging of food and cosmetics, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standards Committee), in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments, formulated and issued a new “Requirements for Restricting Excessive Packaging of Products”. "Food and Cosmetics" national standards. The new standards are conducive to guiding green production and consumption, and also conducive to effective supervision."

What improvements have been made to the new standard? How to implement it better? Chen Hongjun said that in order to improve the applicability, scientificity and operability of the standard, the new standard has made the following adjustments: First, the terms and definitions have been revised and supplemented, and the contents, packaging layers, packaging voids, excessive packaging, and merchandise have been revised and supplemented. The definition of terms such as the necessary space coefficient has been added to the definition of comprehensive commodity terms. Among them, the packaging void ratio is defined as the ratio of the necessary volume of space occupied by the package without the contents to the total packaging volume, returning to the essential meaning of the packaging void ratio. The second is to modify the packaging void ratio limit requirements and calculation methods. The new packaging void ratio calculation method solves the problem of evading supervision by increasing the initial packaging volume and adding other commodities. The third is to facilitate the implementation of the standard, increase the outer packaging volume detection, judging rules and the necessary space coefficients for different commodities.

The second paragraph of Article 68 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes implemented on September 1, 2020 stipulates that “producers and operators shall comply with mandatory standards that restrict excessive packaging of goods and avoid excessive packaging. At the county level and above The market supervision and management department of the people's government and relevant departments should strengthen the supervision and management of excessive packaging in accordance with their respective responsibilities." The law clarified for the first time the obligatory provisions restricting excessive packaging of goods, which greatly strengthened the implementation of the standard.

Set up a two-year transition period for the enterprise

It is understood that the new standard will be officially implemented on September 1, 2023, setting a two-year transition period for enterprises and the market. What are the considerations for setting up the two-year transition period, and what work does the company need to do during this period?

Chen Hongjun said that after considering 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 extensively soliciting opinions from relevant industrial departments, industry associations and enterprises. During this period, food and cosmetics companies need to carry out standard publicity training within the company, 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 is put into production as soon as possible Use; speed up the consumption of inventory packaging and products that have entered the market to ensure that the products produced and sold after the implementation of the standard meet the new standard.

"According to Article 25 of the Standardization Law, products and services that do not meet the mandatory standards shall not be produced, sold, imported or provided. After the two-year implementation transition period, the market is not allowed to be reproduced and sold that do not meet the new standards. Food and cosmetics. Therefore, 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.

"One look, two questions, three calculations" to judge whether it is over-packing

In addition, when buying food and cosmetics, how do consumers quickly determine whether the packaging is excessive packaging? Wei Hong, deputy director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said that consumers can generally judge whether goods are excessively packaged through "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 does not meet the requirements, it can be preliminarily determined as not meeting the requirements of the standard. From the perspective of environmental protection, consumers are advised to avoid buying over-packaged products.

Wei Hong said that in order to better implement the new standards, we will work with relevant departments to innovate work measures to effectively promote the implementation of the standards. To implement the main responsibility of the enterprise, the enterprise is the main body of the implementation of the standard. Food and cosmetics enterprises shall, in accordance with the requirements of the Standardization Law and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution, effectively raise awareness, take the initiative, and fulfill corporate social responsibilities as soon as possible. Use and meet standards to provide the market with higher-quality, greener, environmentally-friendly and low-carbon products. Strengthen the implementation and implementation of standards. The new standards will be promoted in all aspects through a variety of methods such as one picture reading, standard interpretation, standard disclosure, online cloud classrooms, etc.; at the same time, standard training activities will be organized in conjunction with relevant departments to supervise and comply with laws and standards. Make technical reserves. Guide consumers to develop green consumption, create a green consumption environment by strengthening public opinion, guide consumers to consciously practice the concept of green consumption, advocate saving, reduce waste, and actively purchase green, environmentally friendly, low-carbon products, and do not purchase or overuse Packaged goods.