How can enterprises achieve packaging reduction and eco-friendly design?

Source Reduction Is Not Simply "Making It Thinner"

Packaging source reduction refers to lowering the resource consumption and environmental impact of packaging through the coordinated optimization of materials, structure, and processes, while maintaining its protective function. It goes beyond merely reducing grammage; rather, it re-examines every design decision from the perspective of a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)—whether an unnecessary extra layer of lining has been added, whether an excessively luxurious gift box has been used, or whether a composite structure that is rejected by the recycling chain has been selected.

For food and cosmetics enterprises, GB 23350-2021 "Requirements for Restricting Excessive Packaging of Commodities" is a mandatory national standard that must be complied with. It imposes three hard constraints on sales packaging: the number of packaging layers is generally ≤ 3 (relaxed to 4 layers for certain product categories), the packaging cost must not exceed a reasonable proportion of the selling price, and the void ratio has an upper limit. The control of layer counts and costs is especially strict for mooncakes, rice dumplings (zongzi), and health products.

Dimension One: Material-Level Reduction

Material reduction starts from three angles. First, use low-grammage, high-strength substitutes—for example, 250 g white cardstock can replace 350 g in some scenarios, provided the stiffness test passes. Second, replace multi-layer composite structures with mono-material structures: traditional "paper + plastic + aluminum" composite bags can be changed to mono-PE or mono-PP, making the sorting and recycling chain smoother. Third, remove unnecessary heterogeneous accessories such as metal, magnets, and fabric—although magnetic closure gift boxes offer a good user experience, the recycling chain is usually unable to separate the magnets from the paperboard.

The selection of corrugated board also requires careful consideration: E-flute (approximately 1.5 mm) has a flat surface suitable for fine printing and is commonly used for small color boxes; BC-flute or EB-flute offers strong load-bearing capacity but is heavier. For lightweight scenarios, prioritize E-flute or single-wall B-flute.

Dimension Two: Structural Optimization

Structural lightweighting offers the greatest potential. Common practices include: converting a three-layer gift box consisting of "box + base + handle" into an integrally formed folding box; using shaped paper cards to replace foam inserts; using structured cushioning (such as honeycomb paperboard) to replace plastic cushioning components; and using die-cut layout optimization to improve material utilization, reducing waste from 15% to below 8%.

For shipping packaging, under the ISTA 3A testing framework, "Right-Sizing" the package is more economical than "adding more foam." Companies typically first use drop tests and compression tests to determine the actual required protection strength, then work backward to determine the material quantity needed.

Dimension Three: Printing and Surface Finishing

The reduction of printing processes is reflected in three aspects. First, water-based ink replaces solvent-based ink, significantly reducing VOC emissions and complying with the European packaging ink EuPIA industry standard. Second, reduce the use of spot colors—each additional spot color (Pantone) requires an extra printing plate, raising the unit cost by 5-8%. Colors that can be achieved through four-color (CMYK) overlay do not need spot colors. Third, avoid large-area solid film lamination—the film layer not only increases material cost but also prevents the paper-based substrate from entering the recycling chain.

For surface finishing, processes such as hot stamping, embossing, and spot UV that "add the finishing touch" can be retained, but the area needs to be controlled. If the hot stamping area of a box exceeds 30%, the difficulty of recycling sorting will increase significantly.

Dimension Four: Recycling Chain Collaboration

The last mile of eco-design is recycling. If the sorting chain does not support it, no matter how lightweight or mono-material the packaging is, it will still end up in a landfill. At the design stage, it is necessary to confirm: the types of materials that local recycling facilities can process, whether GT/BT 16716 classification labeling is required, and whether the packaging is easy for consumers to disassemble.

Companies exporting to the EU also need to pay attention to PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation). It requires all packaging to meet recyclability thresholds by 2030 and sets minimum proportions for recycled plastic content. Companies that engage early in recycling chain design will see significantly lower switching costs in the future.

Recommended Implementation Steps

For companies looking to adopt eco-design, a four-step approach is recommended: Step one, conduct a packaging audit and list the materials, grammage, number of layers, and ink type for all current SKUs; Step two, perform compliance checks against GB 23350 and the regulations of target markets; Step three, identify SKUs with "high reduction potential" for prioritized optimization; Step four, during the sampling stage, verify the mechanical performance and cost impact of new materials/structures.

LeXiang Packaging supports small-batch customization with a minimum order of 10 units, and can simultaneously evaluate the feasibility of reduction plans during the sampling stage, including structural strength, printability, die-cutting waste, and total cost comparison.