The Ministry of Environment joins hands with mass merchandisers and supermarkets to promote green packaging products. Peng Qiming: Fighting to increase the number to 1,000 types within 2 years

The most important thing about garbage is to reduce it at the source, and the Ministry of Environment promotes the reduction of retail commodity packaging. (Provided by the Resource Recycling Department)

There is a dazzling array of goods sold in mass-market supermarkets, but excessive packaging will increase the environmental burden. The Ministry of Environment today (19th) joined hands with the Retail Goods Packaging Circular Sustainability Strategic Alliance to connect physical stores such as Macau Fu, Lejiakang, Daquanlian and Macau Fu for online shopping, and gathered many domestic index companies to launch 350 green packaging products. Minister Peng Qiming said that he hopes that there will be 1,000 green packaging products within 2 years.

From vegetables to beverages, goods on supermarket shelves require packaging. However, in order to be friendly to the environment, the Ministry of Environment has promoted packaging reduction in recent years, and hopes to achieve the 10% packaging reduction target set by the European Union in 2035. The Ministry of Environment has joined hands with the Retail Goods Packaging Circular Sustainability Strategy Alliance to connect supermarkets such as Wanjiafu, Lejiakang, and Daquanlian. The sales channel promotes the reduction of packaging of food, beverages, cleaning products and cosmetics, and has 10 index companies including Kao, Swire Coca-Cola, Lianhua Foods, Quanlian, Wilson Health, Heineken, Unilever, Conda Shengtong, FamilyMart and Housewives Alliance, launching a total of 350 green packaging products covering 61 product categories.

Peng Qiming said that as the economy improves, it will inevitably drive up the consumption of goods, which also means that the amount of packaging and other waste will increase. When it comes to waste, the most important thing is to reduce the source. In the future, we will continue to encourage companies to design related green packaging products through the five major directions of weight reduction, singleness, regeneration, recycling, and substitution. He hopes that the number of green packaging products will increase to 1,000 within two years. In the future, it is also planned to incorporate recycling mark certification to make green packaging products become the mainstream of the market.

The Department of Resources and Recycling of the Ministry of Environment stated that Wanjiafu promoted the "Start from i" sustainable label to help consumers identify plastic-reduced products, and introduced fresh plastic box recycling and second-hand bag recycling in stores; Quanlian has set up a naked sales area for more than 350 products, with fresh food packaging materials Lightweight and recyclable fruit and vegetable net bags reduced the use of more than 11,000 kilograms of plastic last year; the Housewives Union Lifestyle Consumer Cooperative introduced 30% to 100% post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) packaging for its own brand products and promoted the recycling and reuse of fruit and vegetable net bags.

In order to encourage the public to support green packaging products, you can participate in the lottery by purchasing green packaging products at Macau and other stores across Taiwan until November 30. Related lottery information and product list can be found online: https://sup.moenv.gov.tw/page/5go.