The concept of "sustainable consumption" in packaging

Since the 1990s, people have begun to realize more deeply that the blind consequence of the development of industrial production and the pursuit of rapid economic growth have caused serious consequences for the loss of balance in the ecological environment of the earth. If this pattern continues, the future of mankind will Toward destruction.

In June 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 183 countries jointly developed a global action plan for sustainable development - Agenda 21, which was stated in the agenda. The main point is that "unsustainable production methods and consumption patterns are the main causes of global environmental problems." "Sustainable consumption is a rational consumption method that meets people's needs by choosing products and services that do not harm the environment and will not harm future generations. It is a kind of consumption subject to global sustainable development goals. the way".

In the past decade or so, with the rapid economic development of our country, the number of commodities has increased and the varieties have become more and more abundant, bringing about a great degree of satisfaction to our material life. However, due to our eagerness for quick success and instant benefit in development methods, we have The huge cost has been lost. The ecological environment such as air pollution, flood outbreaks, water shortages and land desertification have been severely out of balance, which threatens our living space. It cannot but be said that it is caused by unsustainable production methods and consumption patterns.

Today, China's packaging design has significantly improved overall, and it has gradually approached the level of developed countries in terms of packaging materials, printing technology, and production technology. In the basic concept of packaging design, there are still misunderstandings in the understanding. The idea that product packaging design is an important means to arouse consumers' desire to purchase, promote the sale of goods, and obtain economic benefits is still very common. Under the influence of this concept, a large number of packaging designs that only focus on immediate economic benefits have emerged. If the product packaging size, volume is too much, unnecessary multi-level cumbersome packaging, in order to make the goods have a sense of high-end, high-cost printing, in order to reduce the packaging cost, the use of packaging materials that are not easy to recycle and processing are also everywhere. Modern society, there are goods for sale, there must be goods packaging, commodity packaging is "very short-lived consumer goods," which is characterized by being thrown away immediately after use, in fact, how many packages we use every day, we must produce more Garbage, for this reason, China’s waste production has been increasing year by year, and the structure of waste has also changed in recent years. In the past, waste was dominated by lime soil and food. It was harmless to the environment and people, and now garbage is mainly plastic and paper. Content, plastic is extremely difficult to deal with garbage, with the landfill method, it does not dissolve into the soil, with the incineration method, it will produce toxic gases, great harm to people and the environment. As we all know, "white pollution" caused by plastic packaging is getting worse. In addition to plastics, commodity packaging also uses materials such as paper, glass, and wood. Each year it is used only on packaging materials, which consumes a lot of resources.

In the late 1980s, the new concept of "sustainable development" proposed by the international community was a new strategy for the development of society, the environment, and economic development. "From the consumer's point of view, the realization of sustainable development requires the improvement of people's quality of life while changing the previously unconscionable methods of production and consumption, improving the efficiency of energy use, and reducing the output of harmful substances. Sustainable production and consumption patterns for production and living consumption."

Designers in advanced countries such as Western Europe, Northern Europe, the United States, and Japan have incorporated the concept of "sustainable development" into their design concepts. Whether it is the design of automotive parts or the design of packaging for goods, it is based on protection and Improving the living environment and establishing reasonable production and consumption methods are the focus of design. Germany, which has a very strong sense of environmental protection, has taken some "sustainable consumption" measures, such as supermarkets, it does not provide plastic bags to customers, many goods use simple packaging, beverage packaging containers, rather use bulky glass bottles instead of Lightweight, easy-to-recycle plastic bottles. Commodity packaging design can guide the change of production methods and consumer lifestyles. It plays an important role in the economic and cultural development of the society. When designing, we should consider the design orientation from the macro perspective of the overall social development, not just It is the mission of our designers to take the promotion of products as a design goal and promote the society to become more civilized.

Author: Ning Ning Ning Tsinghua University