The challenge of replacing plastic food packaging with paper food packaging

The war on plastic is well and truly underway,
 
Plastic wrap, bags, and containers are ubiquitous in supermarkets and restaurants， they are present in our everyday life and often discarded everywhere, eventually becoming packing waste, But Now with countries around the world banning single-use plastics and companies pledging to ditch them in favor of more sustainable options.
 
The challenge of replacing plastic food packaging with paper food packaging is a daunting one.
Whether in terms of production, use, or cost， We all know that conventional plastic food packaging has many advantages over paper food packaging. It is cheaper, lighter, and more durable. But Paper food packaging, on the other hand, is compostable and recyclable. what it uses are recycled materials. On the other hand, is expensive and can be easily damaged.

So why make the switch? Here are some reasons :
1. The problem with plastic food packaging
One of the biggest reasons for this is that the use of plastic food packaging brings with it a host of environmental problems: water pollution, food contamination， human body health issues, marine environment issues， threats to marine life, harmful chemicals ...... and its non-biodegradability, which is extremely damaging to the environment
 
2. The benefits of paper food packaging
- Paper material is more sustainable than plastic material.
It's recycled materials and It can be recycled and reused multiple times, while plastic material cannot be recycled nearly as often.
 
- paper food packaging is biodegrades
Paper material used in paper food packaging biodegrades much faster,It degrades quickly in nature and is not a burden to the environment， so it is better for the environment.
 
- Fossil fuel savings
The chemicals used in the production of plastic materials are almost entirely derived from fossil fuels， So switching to paper food packaging could help reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.
 
It's no secret that plastic food packaging is bad for the environment. This is why many companies are now looking to replace their plastic food packaging with paper food packaging. But this is not a simple task. There are several challenges that need to be overcome in order to make the switch from plastic food packaging to paper food packaging.
 
In this blog post, we will discuss those challenges and how they can be overcome.
1：Production cost issues：
There are many benefits to using paper food packaging over plastic food packaging. However, one of the main concerns business owners have is cost. So there is a cost issue that comes with replacing plastic food packaging with paper food packaging. The cost of raw materials and labor are both higher for paper food packaging. However, the cost of environmental damage caused by plastic food packaging is much higher, so the choice between the two can be difficult.
 
Yes undeniably, it must be the low cost of plastic food packaging products. For example, paper lunch boxes cost $0.048-0.064; foam / plastic containers cost less than $0.02， But the environmental costs of the use of plastic are huge, Even for compostable plastics， not only in terms of marine pollution and air pollution, but also in terms of the number of natural resources it consumes, at a total cost of more than $75 billion per year, which companies may be oblivious to or ignore, or we may think we don't have to pay for, but it does exist and we will eventually pay for it. Also and it is under-recycled, with 99% of it not being used effectively. It tends to be single-use packaging， such as single-use plastic bags, and plastic water bottles. And chemical recycling is more difficult, often failing to meet recycling targets This is a large loss of circular economy
 
So when making the decision to switch from plastic packaging to paper food packaging -replacing plastic packaging, businesses need to take into account all of the costs involved. not only the production cost
 
The challenge of replacing plastic food packaging with paper food packaging is a daunting one, these are the packaging innovations that start with a change in packaging material, thus replacing plastic packaging，replace plastic, and reducing plastic consumption, but it is possible.
 
As technology advances and people's awareness of environmental protection increases, green food packaging, biodegradable paper food packaging, recycling food packaging concepts are emerging, The packaging types are changing, the food packaging market for paper products is getting bigger and bigger, and with the increase in the market, paper food packaging production technology has also made considerable progress, while the increase in the production of enterprises, the cost of paper food packaging is slowly decreasing, and unlike plastic food packaging, paper food packaging is biodegradable and has less impact on the environmental concerns
 
and recycling systems are also constantly being optimized -- it has a recycling rate of 80%.
 
In the long run, the difficult choice between the two is gradually becoming easier. There are a few companies： brand owners that have taken up the sustainability challenges - the challenge of replacing plastic packaging with paper food packaging. One such company is Ecologic Brands. Ecologic Brands has developed aver paper food packaging - it is durable, waterproof, and relatively cheap to produce.
 
2: Production technology
Plastic food packaging: food packaging is mainly made of plastic. Such as beverage bottles, disposable plastic fast food containers, food packaging bags, etc. are all plastic food packaging. The usage of conventional plastics in food packaging began in the 1950s and has a long history of production and use.
 
Nowadays, the industrial chain of plastic food packaging can be divided into three main parts:
 
1, raw materials and processing equipment for plastic food packaging,
2, manufacturing of plastic food packaging products,
3, application areas of plastic food packaging.
After a long period of development, technology updates, the plastic packaging industry production technology level continues to improve, the product is also constantly updated: now there are compostable plastic， recycled plastics .... in the market, technology and equipment are now in a relatively mature stage, the market emergence of a variety of plastic food packaging machinery, production lines
 
In the face of a long history of use, production equipment perfect plastic packaging, paper food packaging is truly facing a great challenge, but in the global environment of sustainable development, reducing plastic food packaging reducing plastic waste， developing sustainable packaging solutions and the use of renewable materials has gradually become the industry trend, which definitely for the paper food packaging production industry to create a good space for development.
 
In recent years, paper-based food packaging has been widely used in food packaging for its good processing strength and processing performance, meeting the needs of environmental protection and connective development. Become the most potential sustainable alternatives
 
In recent years, under the initiative and promotion of governments, many paper-based food packaging enterprises are working hard on the development of new paper-based food packaging machinery and materials, and with the progress of science and recycling technologies, paper-based food packaging machinery and recycling system is becoming more and more perfect and automated
 
Now the market with paper as packaging materials is made of food packaging, mainly including paper cups, paper bowls, paper tableware, paper boxes, and another reusable packaging. All are common packaging in daily lives
 
We, Wenzhou Good plus Machinery, follow the trend of the modern, actively respond to the "protection of the environment, sustainable development" call, efforts to develop paper products manufacturing machinery,
 
Our factory provides：
1：Paper Food Packaging Box Making Machine
 
2：Paper Cup Making Machine
 
3：Paper Bowl Making Machine
 
4：Paper Plate Making Machine
 
5：Multi Compartment Take Away Food Packaging Box Making Machine
 
6：Paper Bag Making Machine
 
7：Hamburger Box Making Machine
 
All adopting advanced packaging technology, Production of a wide range of reusable containers to reduce the environmental impact of plastic pollution， Providing more possibilities for packaging solutions
 
3: Barrier performance.
The more common barrier performance requirements include oil, water and stain resistance, etc., and we all know that plastic packaging in the waterproof moisture and oil resistance and other performance is advantageous
 
The challenge with paper food packaging is that it doesn't have the same barrier properties as plastic products. In our daily lives without barrier treatment, hot coffee can quickly leak out of paper coffee cups; packaged snacks can become damp and soft; fast food trays can absorb oil and leak onto people's hands or surfaces; sauces can leak out of bags, and food can oxidize quickly.
 
This problem has now been well resolved and we can improve the barrier performance by using coated paper materials for the treatment. Barrier coatings: additional liquid coatings are applied to the substrate to improve performance. This enables paper food packaging solutions to achieve as much as possible the performance and use of plastic food packaging. In particular, technological developments have led to the development of more sustainable barrier solutions: aqueous polymer coatings: waste packaging produced during production or discarded by consumers can be recycled according to standard paper recycling processes and re-pulped to produce recycled paper for further use It does not only provide the required barrier properties but also maintains the recyclability of the paper
 
Our factory has developed a variety of paper food packaging making machines：
paper bowl machines, paper cup machines, and food packaging box machines that can make good use of these materials for automated production， For More details you can check our website：https://www.zjgoodplus.com/
 
4: Change in usage habits
People have been using plastic food packaging for a long time. Restaurants use plastic lunch boxes to pack food, drinks can be packed in plastic water bottles, and plastic bags have brought us a lot of conveniences.
 
As the environmental impact of plastic increases, we have been making packaging innovations and looking for plastic replacements, with paper food packaging being the most popular sustainable packaging in recent years.
 
The demand for and experience of these alternatives will, to some extent, determine how quickly and efficiently the 'plastic use' habit can be changed.
 
The answer is definitely yes
 
Paper bags are gradually replacing plastic bags and they are reusable bags, paper cups of all sizes are replacing plastic water bottles and paper bowls, and paper packing boxes are more and more popular at food companies.
 
In order to reduce plastic pollution and health risks, our packaging habits are constantly evolving towards sustainable packaging.
 
5: Types of raw materials
As we all know, plastic food packaging materials are very rich in variety, the common ones are: PE, LDPE, HDPE, PP, OPP, PS, PVC, PVDC, PET, NY
 
Or from the above materials of several composites, with good plasticity, elasticity can be made according to the requirements of a variety of flexible packaging, plastic bags, cans, beverage packaging barrels, and other forms of food packaging, raw materials are relatively simple to get, which is why plastic food packaging can occupy the market
 
In order to meet the needs of environmental protection and connected development. With the progress of science and technology, paper food packaging materials have developed rapidly in recent years, and now we have white cardboard, white kraft paper, paper straw paper, cup paper, paper cup paper, noodle bowl paper, and other food packaging paper on the market, these are all sustainable packaging material， Specialised recycling companies are available to collect - recycle - reuse
 
Under the trend of environmental protection, the paper industry has a good development space, we can now also easily get paper packaging materials. All these materials can be used on our factory‘s paper cup making machine/paper bowl making machine/paper bag making machine/paper lunch box making machine to automate the production of paper food packaging
 
Due to environmental factors, but also due to human health， people's awareness of environmental protection continues to strengthen, and consumers' requirements for food packaging continue to improve. In order to reduce environmental pollution, biodegradable packaging is becoming a new trend in the food packaging industry, and paper food packaging is one of them! replacing plastic with paper packaging materials is a long process.
 
But I believe that under the efforts of many sides, the food packaging industry will gradually to environmental protection, green change, the future of paper food packaging be more and more optimistic.
 
Purchasing power to enhance + environmental protection upgrade + the development of today's takeaway market, promote the development of paper food packaging,
 
And Wenzhou Goodplus Machinery Co, LTD， a manufacturer specialized in environmental protection paper food packaging production machinery will always be here to provide you with one-stop solutions, Try our best to replace plastic，to reduce packaging waste， and contribute to the cause of environmental protection!
 
Any need or any interest in paper packaging product making machine ：
1：Paper Food Packaging Box Making Machine
 
2：Paper Cup Making Machine
 
3：Paper Bowl Making Machine
 
4：Paper Plate Making Machine
 
5：Multi Compartment Take Away Food Packaging Box Making Machine
 
6：Paper Bag Making Machine
 
7：Hamburger Box Making Machine
 
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- Emily Pan