Second life of packaging

Abstract

This academic article discusses the second life of packaging that will occur after the first usage. Most of the packaging is made from 4 materials: paper, metal, glass and plastic. The packaging is often used only one time then dumped as garbage. Environmental problems especially plastics garbage, which some material types aren’t recycle and can contribute to the environmental issue of landfills. Creating a second life for packaging is one way to get rid of garbage or reduce the amount of waste and to get new products that can be used in new benefits. There are many ways to reduce energy consumption, reduce the use of new materials, and finally reduce the environmental problems. In the second life of the packaging can be done in three ways: 1. Reuse  packaging such as the use of glass bottles  to fill in other products for extending usage time. 2. Recycle  product such as the plastic bottle melt it and change to be the  carpet fiber.         3. Upcycle changed from disposal packaging to  a new product such as sack modify to new hat, bag or glass bottle to make a lamp. It can be done from individual household and expand to corporate level.   At present, there is a promotion from both government and enterprise sector to dealing with packaging waste, which will benefit the environment and create a second life of the packaging of higher quality and value than the original packaging.