Cartoon: Zhang Jianhui

With the development of online shopping and takeout, the number of packages handled by the express delivery industry is also increasing day by day. Some express and takeout packaging is often very complicated, resulting in a large amount of garbage. How do you deal with express delivery garbage in daily life?

Recently, a survey conducted by the China Youth Daily Social Survey Center and Yipai Consulting on 2015 people showed that 70.8% of the respondents believed that it was necessary to specially recycle express and takeout garbage for environmental protection and convenience. However, only 16.2% of the respondents expressed their willingness to pay extra for recycling packaging, and 60.6% clearly stated that they were unwilling to pay.

In the survey, 37.8% of the respondents believed that the packaging of express delivery and takeout was complicated, 50.0% thought it was average, and 10.6% and 1.6% thought it was relatively simple and very simple. In express delivery and take-out, the most common packaging is paper boxes (71.6%), plastic packaging bags (70.2%), and others include white foam filling (47.6%), plastic paper with bubbles (45.0%), and disposable plastic boxes or lunch boxes (14.2%).

Xiao Chengyu, who is studying at the School of Environmental Science of Nankai University, told reporters: "I think it depends on the situation. In general, the current express packaging is not very complicated. Individual fragile items must be well packaged, but I think other types of commodity packaging are okay. At present, the main express waste is paper boxes and some plastic products."

For express packaging, 42.1% of the respondents believe that the garbage generated by packaging will affect the environment, and 42.1% of the respondents believe that complex packaging can protect the goods. 39.3% of the respondents said that it is troublesome to disassemble complex packaging, 29.7% of the respondents believe that complex packaging can reflect the good service attitude of the merchant, 25.6% of the respondents said that complex packaging occupies their living space, and 15.0% of the respondents said that they are not sure how to deal with the packaging and are troubled.

Huang Chenqian, who works at an Internet company in Beijing, prefers online shopping. She receives more than 10 parcels in a week. She thinks that the packaging of express delivery is more complicated now, but this is for the safety of the parcel. "During the transportation process, the workers treat the parcels in a more "violent" way. For safety, they have to use complex packaging. For example, the foam plastics and plastic paper with bubbles that are more common in the packaging are to ensure safety. If the goods are damaged, it will be troublesome for both merchants and consumers."

Beijing resident Tian Yu needs to work in three shifts, so he often orders takeout to solve three meals. He said that the current takeout packaging is very complicated, and too many paper boxes are used for packaging, which takes up a lot of space. "And so many disposable plastic lunch boxes are not environmentally friendly. But if it is not packaged like this, it is simply placed in a box, and consumers will feel that they are losing money. Such complex packaging actually satisfies a kind of psychological satisfaction, and they feel that their consumption is rewarded."

In the survey, respondents believe that the biggest problem with the current express delivery and takeout packaging is that too much transparent tape is wrapped around it (56.5%), followed by the fact that the materials are mostly plastic products that are not environmentally friendly (48.2%). Others include: too much foam or air filling (34.3%), weak and insufficient packaging (32.1%), and too large boxes (25.0%).

It is understood that some waste recycling stations in Beijing currently charge 30 cents per pound for recycling empty express boxes, but if there are tapes and express delivery orders on them, it is only about 10 cents per pound. Sister Li, who runs a garbage recycling station in Xi'erqi, Haidian District, Beijing, said: "If there are too many tapes and delivery orders on the express boxes, I generally refuse to recycle them. My recycling station is relatively small, and there are too many tapes on the packaging boxes. It takes too much time to clean up, which is not cost-effective."

In the survey, 70.8% of the respondents believed that it was necessary to specially recycle express or takeaway garbage, 17.3% of the respondents believed that it was not necessary, and 12.0% of the people chose to say it was hard to say. As for the disposal of express delivery waste, 33.0% of the respondents said that they would directly discard it without classification, 40.4% would sort it before discarding it, 43.1% of the respondents chose to sell it to waste recycling stations, and 34.8% of the respondents would choose to recycle it themselves, and 3.8% of the respondents said that the express delivery company would recycle it.

Huang Chenqian said that she would throw the express delivery waste directly into the trash can every time and didn't deal with it much. If you recycle it yourself, the cartons and plastic boxes will take up a lot of space and are not very useful. As for why there is no sorting, she said: "There will be three trash cans placed side by side downstairs. The original intention should be to sort it out, but people don't have the awareness of sorting it out. The garbage in the three trash cans is thrown away randomly, and I don't insist on sorting it out."

Xiao Chengyu suggested that you can choose to simplify the express packaging or provide express packaging recycling services. For example, if you unpack the express while signing for the express, you can get a certain reward by directly handing the express packaging back to the express company. For example, if the weight of the express packaging is too heavy, the packaging fee will be increased.

What suggestions do the respondents have for express delivery waste? 71.4% of the respondents suggested that personal information should be cleared before recycling and reuse, and 57.4% of the respondents suggested increasing investment in scientific research and inventing green packaging. Others include: promoting standardization of express packaging and unified recycling (52.9%), popularizing people's awareness of garbage classification and classified treatment (48.8%), and express companies recycling garbage on the spot after delivery (30.1%).

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