Ding Qian, Zhu Heping
China Packaging Design and Innovation Center, School of Packaging Design and Art, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Mar 16;15(6):1485. doi: 10.3390/polym15061485.
Confronted with serious environmental problems caused by the growing mountains of plastic packaging waste, the prevention and control of plastic waste has become a major concern for most countries. In addition to the recycling of plastic wastes, design for recycling can effectively prevent plastic packaging from turning into solid waste at the source. The reasons are that the design for recycling can extend the life cycle of plastic packaging and increase the recycling values of plastic waste; moreover, recycling technologies are helpful for improving the properties of recycled plastics and expanding the application market for recycled materials. This review systematically discussed the present theory, practice, strategies, and methods of design for recycling plastic packaging and extracted valuable advanced design ideas and successful cases. Furthermore, the development status of automatic sorting methods, mechanical recycling of individual and mixed plastic waste, as well as chemical recycling of thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic waste, were comprehensively summarized. The combination of the front-end design for recycling and the back-end recycling technologies can accelerate the transformation of the plastic packaging industry from an unsustainable model to an economic cycle model and then achieve the unity of economic, ecological, and social benefits.
面对日益堆积如山的塑料包装废弃物所造成的严峻环境问题，塑料废弃物的防治已成为大多数国家的主要关切。除了塑料废弃物的回收利用外，面向回收利用的设计能够从源头上有效防止塑料包装变成固体废弃物。原因在于，面向回收利用的设计可以延长塑料包装的生命周期并提高塑料废弃物的回收价值；此外，回收技术有助于改善再生塑料的性能并扩大再生材料的应用市场。本综述系统地讨论了塑料包装面向回收利用设计的当前理论、实践、策略和方法，并提炼出了有价值的先进设计理念和成功案例。此外，还全面总结了自动分拣方法、单一及混合塑料废弃物的机械回收以及热塑性和热固性塑料废弃物的化学回收的发展现状。面向回收利用的前端设计与后端回收技术相结合，可以加速塑料包装行业从不可持续模式向经济循环模式的转变，进而实现经济、生态和社会效益的统一。
