On September 2, the SAMR held a press conference to explain the recently released national standard Requirements of Restricting Excessive Package Foods and Cosmetics. The new standard will be formally implemented on September 1, 2023.

Chen Hongjun, Deputy Director of the Standards and Technology Department of the SAMR, said at the conference that, according to research, China’s package waste accounts for about 30% to 40% of municipal solid waste, and most of them come from excessive package. It can be seen that excessive package of commodities not only wastes resources and energy, but also increases the burden on consumers, and the package waste even causes pollution to the environment.

Achieving effective supervision by guiding green production and consumption

The new standard specified the requirements for interspace ratio, package layers and package cost, as well as the corresponding methods for calculation, testing and judgement. The specific contents include: First, stipulating the package requirements of 31 categories of foods and 16 categories of cosmetics; Secondly, greatly simplifying the method for judging excessive package of commodities. Consumers only need to check the weight or volume of commodities and measure the volume of the outermost layer of package, and then through calculation, can make a preliminary judgement of whether there is excessive package; Thirdly, strictly restricting package layers. Grains and its processed products should not have more than three layers of package, and other foods and cosmetics should not have more than four layers. The new standard is conducive to guiding green production and consumption and also to achieving effective supervision.

Setting a two-year transition period for inventory cleanup to avoid new waste

The new standard will be formally implemented on September 1, 2023, setting a two-year transition period for enterprises and the market.

Chen Hongjun said that, with the issuing of the new standard, foods and cosmetics manufacturers need to design product package in compliance with the requirements of the new standard. Meanwhile, they also need to clean up package inventory and stock on hand, especially for cosmetics with a long shelf life and consumption cycle during circulation. In order to avoid affecting production and operation activities and causing new waste, a two-year transition period was set up after broadly soliciting opinions from related industrial sectors, industry associations and enterprises.

"According to the Standardization Law, products and services that do not meet mandatory standards shall not be manufactured, sold, imported or provided. After the transition period, the manufacture and sale on the market of foods and cosmetics that do not meet the new standard will be prohibited. Therefore, we call on enterprises to make rectifications as soon as possible during the transition period so as to meet the standard." Chen Hongjun said.

Judging whether there is excessive package by a three-step method of "observation-inquiry-calculation"

Wei Hong, Deputy Director of the Standards and Technology Department of the SAMR, pointed out that, consumers can judge whether there is excessive package simply by a three-step method of “observation-inquiry-calculation”. "Step 1-observation" means to observe whether the commodity has luxurious outer package and whether it uses expensive package materials; "Step 2-inquiry" means to inquire about the package layers without opening the package, to judge whether grains and its processed products have more than three layers of package and other foods and cosmetics have more than four layers; "Step 3-calculation" means to measure or estimate the volume of the outer package and compare with the maximum allowable outer package volume, to see if it meets the standard.

Source: China Economy

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