We will tell you the secret behind the “exaggerated style” of mooncake packaging!

Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and it is time for mooncakes to become "currency". When we were young, we cared whether mooncakes had egg yolks, and when we became adults, we cared whether the mooncake packaging was "presentable"; when we were young, we bought mooncakes in bulk on the streets, and when we became adults, we expressed our feelings through convenient express delivery. Gift boxes plus express boxes, mooncakes are wrapped in more and more layers of packaging, and it is becoming more and more difficult for us to open them.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, Get Rid of Plastic and Non-Toxic Pioneer, from an environmental perspective, used the video "How delicious are mooncakes? The moment you tear open the package, you should probably know something..." to record the process of us unboxing a luxury mooncake gift box worth hundreds of yuan. It can be said that we had mixed feelings.

In just a dozen or twenty years, mooncakes are still mooncakes, but they are no longer just mooncakes. So what has this "not just" brought and what has it taken away?

● After years of involution, what is left? ●

Although the term "involution" has only become popular in the past two years, the "involution trend" of mooncake packaging has been around for at least ten years.

From paper tubes to iron boxes, grandma would stock up on iron mooncake boxes to put melon seeds, peanuts and small red dates in during the Chinese New Year;

Classic paper tube mooncakes and iron box mooncakes

Left picture | Sohu Right picture | Tencent

The emergence of soft paper boxes allows the paper waste at home to be sold for an extra two cents;

Classic Paper Box Mooncake

The mooncakes in the gift box with a magnetic lid did give us a good first impression with its exquisiteness, but the piles of paper boxes after the festival did not meet my grandmother’s storage needs, and the junk collector also said that he would not accept hard mooncake boxes - at this time, its exquisiteness could only shine next to the garbage dump, because the trash can would not fit it.

Photo | Hezhou News Network

This year, mooncakes are not only competing in taste: shredded pork with green pepper, river snail rice noodle, preserved egg... the competition in luxury packaging is getting more and more intense. Gifts include liquor, tea, essential oil, dolls... In a luxury mooncake gift box worth hundreds of yuan, the poor mooncake occupies less than a quarter of the area, and has long lost the treatment of being the protagonist.

Definition of "excessive packaging"

The "respectability" of adults supports the internal competition of mooncake packaging. They keep coming up with new ideas, and the packaging and prices are becoming more and more intense. However, it is difficult for us to say what impact this internal competition has had on mooncakes, because they have just been changed into many different "clothes", and the mooncakes are still mooncakes.

● Environmental costs under “exaggerated” packaging●

Excessive packaging has not brought about any qualitative changes to mooncakes, but it has actually taken away a large amount of natural resources and caused emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic and harmful substances.

From raw material supply, production to waste treatment, every stage of packaging creates a corresponding type of burden on the environment: logging, mining, tailings pollution, pollutant emissions and carbon emissions, waste dispersion affects the survival of wildlife...

Some people say that even without packaging, the above problems will still occur based on other production and life needs. However, quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes. Assuming that the product packaging that meets the standard is 2 layers, 1 ton of plastic raw materials can be used for 100,000 product packaging; then when the product packaging reaches 4 layers, 2 tons of plastic raw materials are needed to complete the packaging of 100,000 products.

Annual packaging waste data in my country[1]

Data | National People's Congress Environmental and Resources Protection Committee

In addition to product packaging, relevant data show that in recent years, the amount of express packaging waste has increased rapidly. It is estimated that my country's express delivery industry consumes more than 9 million tons of paper waste and about 1.8 million tons of plastic waste each year. In megacities, the increase in express packaging waste has accounted for 93% of the increase in domestic waste. [2]

Excessive packaging increases the demand for resources and pollutant emissions exponentially, amplifying the environmental costs of the entire packaging process from raw materials to waste disposal.

● Health risks under “exaggerated” packaging●

It is hard for anyone to imagine that some businesses would use "good steel on the scabbard". In the gorgeous packaging, the mooncake tray that is most closely related to food safety may be made of materials that are low-cost but harmful to human health.

Toxic-free Pioneer conducted a sample survey of mooncake trays sold on e-commerce platforms in 2019 and found that some PVC (polyvinyl chloride) mooncake trays contained phthalate plasticizers. The function of this type of plasticizer is to increase the plasticity of PVC, but it may threaten human health when used in food contact materials.

Results of random inspections of mooncake trays sold on e-commerce platforms in September 2019

Photo | No-drug Pioneer

Phthalates are a widely used class of plasticizers and are also endocrine disruptors with reproductive toxicity. They can mimic the natural hormones in the body and bind to hormone receptors, causing the body’s hormones to overact, leading to endocrine disorders, damage to reproductive cell genes, abnormal changes in egg quality, etc., which in turn hinder reproductive development and other functions. Phthalates are one of the causes of the feminization of boys and precocious puberty in girls. In addition, phthalates can also affect the reproductive capacity of adult males. [3]

Common sources of phthalates and their health hazards

● Back to basics, paving the way for new national standards●

Whether it is mooncakes or other products, the gorgeous packaging is only an embellishment after all. Only solid products have more competitiveness to become word-of-mouth products. When companies and even social trends believe that packaging is more important than products and even consume a lot of costs, the "clear-headed" supervisory and management departments need to express their attitude and formulate standardized standards.

Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the newly revised mandatory national standard "Requirements for Restricting Excessive Packaging of Food and Cosmetics", which will be implemented from September 2023.

The requirements clearly state: “Grain and its processed products should not exceed three layers, and other commodities should not exceed four layers.”

Requirements for the number of packaging layers in the "Limitation of Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics"

Figure | Official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation

In June 2020 and February 2021, the "Green Packaging Specifications for Mail and Express Delivery" and the "Mail and Express Delivery Packaging Management Measures" issued by the State Post Bureau and the Ministry of Transport respectively also put forward clear regulatory requirements for excessive packaging.

The introduction and implementation of these norms and standards will help consumers judge and participate in supervising excessive packaging in various industries, and also provide reference and judgment criteria for the implementation of the Solid Waste Law.

Layers of gorgeous packaging cannot replace care and regards, and will also bring environmental problems. In the torrent of the consumer era and the current climate change, returning to the basic etiquette is worth a try - the gift is "light" but the sentiment is heavy.

References

[1] Cui Lvping. Ten Questions about Digital Economy 1: If small packaging cannot be controlled, large cross-border orders will be at risk! [N]. People's Political Consultative Conference Newspaper, July 6, 2021, p. 7 http://111.204.38.21/rmzxbPaper/pc/layout/202107/06/node_07.html

[2] Economic Daily [1]. Increase in express delivery waste in megacities accounts for 93% of increase in waste [J]. Women’s Life, 2019, 000(001):32-32.

[3] Chen Rongqi. Harm of phthalate plasticizers to human health [J]. Dyes and Coloring, 2015, 52(6): 52-58）

-End-