engleski

Prerequisites for the Sustainable Packaging Industry from the Perspective of the Circular Economy and Environmental Protection

The aim of the paper is to define the basic assumption for sustainable development of the packaging industry in the context of the circular economy and environmental protection. The part of packaging waste in Croatia is permanently increasing. Packaging waste accounts for about 40% of waste at landfills. While in Croatia about 90% of waste ends up in landfills, in the developed European countries, such as, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium, depending on the country less den 5% ends up on landfills, 45 to 55% is included in the circular economy, and the rest of the waste ends up in the energy recovery. It was found out that the possibility of efficient recycling and packaging management is defined at the very beginning of packaging processing, i.e., packaging design, selection of compatible materials, and in organizing of collection and sorting of waste. The inaccuracies made at the very beginning of creating packaging are difficult or impossible to correct in the recovery phase of the packaging. Packaging experts should be educated in the design and production of packaging, but also in environmental protection, the circular economy, and materials and equipment engineering. It can be concluded that for the sustainable packaging industry, a sufficient number of experts who can take into account the assumptions of recycling and environmental protection are needed in designing the product and the technological processes of packaging. Also, there is important the awareness of packaging users in households and industry. Regardless of the education of experts and the awareness of packaging users, there are little options in Croatia of achieving satisfactory results without adequate coordination and intervention at the state level.

packaging industry ; recycling ; environmental protection

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