4rs Strategy (Water Market)

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned in its 2021 assessment report that breakthrough changes must be made to the use of plastics if the earth's environment is to be revived sustainably.

Taiwanese food enterprise member factories have responded one after another, and continue to play corporate social responsibility, independent research and development and investment, through the selection of food packaging materials, the reduction of plastic products, and the promotion of consumers' environmental protection culture, to jointly achieve the goal of environmental sustainability. go ahead.

Actively explore development solutions from 4R through the "Food Packaging Materials and Environmental Sustainability Forum".

1. Reduce (source reduction)
2. Reuse
3. Recycle
4. Replace (alternative material)

Various practical actions were proposed in the forum, such as cooperating with foreign countries to manufacture a new generation of biodegradable materials as food packaging materials, which can be decomposed within a few months, with zero toxicity, zero pollution, and no microplastic particles left behind. Or beverage products are committed to reducing the plastic weight of beverage packaging, replacing the long cap with a short cap; the packaging material is lightweight, and the stretchable film is reduced. Another well-known fast-food catering manufacturer shared the simplified design of restaurant recycling stations, which greatly increased the proportion of resource recycling.

The above is an overview and discussion of the 4R of food packaging plastics, but what is the strategy of only looking at the 4R of PET bottles in the water market?

1. Remove:
   Remove the non-recyclable packaging. A classic example is Yiyang Alkaline Ionized Water, which embosses the brand identity on the bottle body, and engraves the product information on the bottle label on the bottle body through unique laser engraving technology, using design ingenuity and innovative packaging technology, successfully creating unlabeled bottles.
2. Return:
   Change the purchasing culture of consumers to one of returning goods after use. For example, through the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Customers will be charged a small deposit when purchasing disposable beverage containers, and the deposit will be refunded when the empty bottle or can is returned. This plan is to increase the effect of plastic recycling, so that beverage containers can be recycled after recycling. processed into new items.
3. Reuse:
   "BBC" reported that according to the guidelines provided by the Food Standards Authority (Food Standards Authority) and Cancer Research UK (Cancer Research UK), it is actually OK to reuse cheap plastic bottles because the chemical components in the plastic are not harmful standard. But you still have to be careful when using them. They must be cleaned regularly to prevent bacteria from growing. If the bottles are broken, it is best not to use them and recycle them.
4. Refill in use:
   British manufacturer Petainer, which develops packaging solutions, designs and produces highly innovative loop-back products that can be collected, reused or recycled, for example, Petainer's reusable bottles can be reused 25 times, water cooler bottles can Repeat filling more than 20 times.

Enterprises and consumers work together to implement the "4Rs of environmental protection", reduce use, reuse and recycle, and establish a green circular chain from manufacturers, distributors, recyclers to consumers.