Civilizational development is inextricably linked to industrial production, the products of which in many cases pose a danger not only to humans but also to the environment.
Products known as dangerous have been subject to appropriate legal regulations, as has their packaging. Packaging used for dangerous materials constitutes a significant problem for the protection of human health, life, and the natural environment. This results from the necessity of moving dangerous materials over various distances, by various means of transport, and in various climatic conditions. Hence, the quality and quantity of this type of packaging are important from both the product and logistics points of view. It is known that both packaging and transport must have appropriate certificates authorizing them for circulation, and personnel must be properly trained. The assessment and authorization of dangerous goods packaging for trade in the country is handled by the Central Research and
Development Centre for Packaging in Warsaw (COBRO), which possesses the appropriate authorizations, testing equipment, and staff. This article attempts to analyze the existing state and potential changes regarding the number of international UN mark certificates granted by the Packaging Certification Centre (CCO) of COBRO, as well as the quality of dangerous goods packaging produced and submitted for certification.
The enormous variety of packaging used for dangerous materials has necessitated their division into 13 types, in which packaging made from the same material but differing, for example, in construction, has been grouped. Fig. 1 shows a percentage summary of tests conducted by the COBRO Transport Packaging Testing Laboratory with negative results between 1997 and October 2002. For the obtained curve, a trend line was determined such that it covers 83.2% of the variability of the studied phenomenon (R2 = 0.832). In other words, the obtained logarithmic trend did not account for 16.8% of the variability of the studied phenomenon observed in the years 1997-10.2002. Based on the calculations performed, a forecast was developed for the next five years, i.e., until 2007. As shown in Fig. 1, the percentage share of tests for the “UN” mark with a negative result will decrease over the coming years. These will not be sudden changes, but calm and systematic ones. In 2004 and 2005, the quality of the tested packaging will improve slightly. During this period, it will be possible to reduce the share of negative results to 16.3% in 2004 and 16.0% in 2005, respectively. According to estimates, in the 2006-2007 period, the number of tests with a negative result will be below 16%, reaching a level of 15.8% in 2006 and 15.7% in 2007. It should be noted that in recent years, the quality of packaging for dangerous materials has clearly improved, and it can be assumed that this trend will continue in the near future. However, the magnitude of changes will depend on several factors and may deviate from the levels in the obtained forecast.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 1/2005.