Packaging / Advertising & Office

Recently, Taiwan issued a "regulation" restricting PVC packaging, announcing that from July 1, 2023, it is prohibited to manufacture, import and sell food packaging containers containing PVC, so as to significantly reduce or even eliminate the proportion of PVC food packaging in international trade

As early as November 15 last year, Taiwan's environmental protection authorities issued a draft notice related to international trade that "restricts the manufacture, import and sale of flat packaging materials containing PVC, and announces that containers that should be recycled and non flat disposable tableware are not allowed".

The draft clearly requires that flat packaging materials, recyclable containers and disposable tableware containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shall not be filled with food, dairy products, beverages or water, condiments, drugs, alcohol, vitamin oral liquid or animal food feed, and the above commodities containing PVC shall not be traded internationally in Taiwan after November 1, 2022, The commodities produced or imported before November 1, 2022 are not under the control of the draft.

In addition, David Parker, the Environment Minister of the New Zealand Government, announced in June that the New Zealand Government was about to carry out the elimination of plastics and promised to eliminate all food and beverage packaging containing PVC by the middle of 2025. Starting from the end of next year, some food packaging and disposable plastics that are difficult to recycle will be phased out, so as to realize the plan to completely stop such supplies by July 2025.

The targets of this project include food and beverage packaging made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene, which is difficult to recycle, as well as some biodegradable plastic products, such as beverage blenders, cotton swabs, disposable product bags, dishes and bowls, tableware, straws and fruit labels.

Products that are more easily degradable, such as oxidative degradable plastics and photo degradable plastics, are also the target of the government's plan, because such plastics cannot be recycled and will be quickly decomposed into small pieces of micro plastics, causing marine pollution.

These plastic products often become waste from landfills and pollute New Zealand's soil, waterways and oceans.

Eliminating unnecessary and problematic plastics will help reduce the landfill volume, improve recycling systems and encourage people to reuse or use environmentally friendly alternatives.

Since last year, many countries have also issued relevant plans to eliminate PVC food packaging as a new trend in international trade.