After the "Double Eleven" this year, the express delivery industry ushered in a peak. Chief Photographer Cai Daizheng/Photo (File Photo)

The "Double Eleven" and "Double Twelve" ended with great success. The knocks on the door came one after another from the express delivery guys. In addition to getting the desired goods at the doorstep, what came with it was the express packaging that filled half of the balcony. These packaging materials are the enemy of the environment and caused huge pollution. According to statistics, in 2015, the express delivery industry used 9.922 billion packaging boxes, more than 3 billion woven bags, and 16.985 billion meters of tape. Wang Weiping, a deputy to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress and an expert on garbage disposal, pointed out in an interview with a Beijing Morning Post reporter that with the development of e-commerce, while people enjoy the convenience of buying goods without leaving home, the pollution problem caused by express packaging is becoming increasingly prominent.

Phenomenon found: cosmetic packaging is several times larger than the product

Just after the "Double 12" shopping festival, what worries Ms. Qian is not the "eating dirt" after "shopping", but the endless collection and disposal of various express packaging boxes, packaging bags and various fillings inside. "I used to sell them to the waste collectors, but with more and more online shopping, it is a headache. At most, I received 14 express deliveries a day, and the packaging boxes occupied half of the balcony."

In the past, Ms. Qian would also accumulate various paper shells together and call the waste recycling staff to recycle them at home, but later the recycling staff always dragged their feet and were unwilling to come to the door. "Once, a nearly ten-pound carton was sold for only six yuan. Not to mention the moving back and forth, the people were quite unhappy, saying that the price of carton boxes is not going up now, and it is not enough to run errands for one trip to collect them."

In addition to the outer packaging of the items, in order to ensure that the items do not shake in the box, the box is also filled with various plastic fillings. "The most common one is bubble film. For example, a small eye cream will be three or four times larger when wrapped in bubble film. In fact, the eye cream itself has two layers of packaging, so it is really unnecessary to wrap it like this."

Ms. Qian said that inflatable filling bags, S-shaped bulk foam plastics, and bubble film for alcoholic beverages are also common packaging materials.

Random survey: 80% of people throw away the packaging directly

"This kind of thing is not collected by waste recycling, so basically it goes into the trash can." Ms. Qian said that it is understandable to worry about the items being bumped, but she thinks it is completely unnecessary to wrap the cardboard packaging with layers of plastic packaging bags and several layers of transparent tape. "So many plastic packaging is definitely not environmentally friendly."

Because it is troublesome, Ms. Qian will no longer ask the waste recycling staff to come to her house. The packaging boxes are directly stacked next to the trash can in the corridor, and some property cleaners will take them away.

Ms. Qian said that some delivery staff of fresh food delivery websites will open the boxes in front of customers and take away the packaging, which allows customers to inspect the goods on the spot and the cartons can be directly recycled and reused. "But there are too few businesses doing this now."

The reporter randomly surveyed 20 citizens, and 80% of them said that they threw away the express packaging they received directly. Most people said that if it was plastic packaging, they would throw it all into the trash can. "For example, small plastic packaging for books, I don't know how to use it if I keep it," said Mr. Liu, who lives in Fengtai District.

Citizens question: It is too wasteful to use takeaway plastic bags casually

Nowadays, more and more office workers and "homebodies" have to live without takeaways. Miss Gao is one of them. "I order takeaways for lunch and dinner. Sometimes I pick up my phone to order breakfast as soon as I open my eyes in the morning."

"Every meal is delivered with at least one or two plastic lunch boxes and one or two pairs of disposable chopsticks. There is also a plastic bag outside." Miss Gao said, "Supermarkets charge for plastic bags, but the plastic bags saved by supermarkets are used casually for takeaways." The reporter saw a good Several plastic lunch boxes, "I kept a few, some of which were just filled with fruits, and they were the same as new ones, but it would be a pity to throw them away, and I didn't know what to do with them if I didn't throw them away." She wanted to reuse such lunch boxes several times, such as putting them in the microwave to heat food, "but I didn't know whether this kind of lunch box could be used in the microwave or whether it was environmentally friendly and non-toxic, so I threw them away in the end."

Seller's statement: Customers are more likely to give bad reviews if there is less packaging

Mr. Xue, a shop owner who once sold homemade handmade jewelry on Taobao and WeChat, told reporters that in addition to purchasing various raw materials for making jewelry, he also had to purchase a large number of packaging supplies every month. "Items all pay attention to packaging. People think that things are high-end when they are well packaged. We can't do anything about it. Some people don't give good reviews because the packaging is not to their liking."

Mr. Xue gave an example, for example, a handmade headdress requires at least a paper cardboard and a transparent plastic package. It also needs to be wrapped with bubble film on the outside, and when it is put into the carton, the box must be filled with newspapers. "Sometimes the packaging cost is almost catching up with the raw material cost." He said that these packaging products are basically purchased online. "Especially when buying in bulk, you can smell a rather pungent odor as soon as you unpack it. Most shop owners probably don't consider whether it is environmentally friendly, as long as the price is cheap." Mr. Xue said that now online shopping is "well-received", and many sellers are afraid that buyers will not feel "sincerity". In addition to the price and quality of the goods, they dare not be vague about the packaging.

Figures

According to the "Report on the Current Status and Trends of Green Packaging Development in China's Express Delivery Sector", in 2015, packaging waste could fill nearly 200,000 football fields

More than 3 billion woven bags

9.922 billion packaging boxes

16.985 billion meters of tape

The recycling rate of express cartons is less than 20%

For every ton of paper used in express packaging boxes

20 trees aged 20 to 40 years need to be cut down

The total length of the tape used can circle the earth's equator 425 times

During the production process, these tapes will produce 2,800 kilograms of gas solvent VOCs (incineration will form haze-like substances)

If landfilled, it will take 100-150 years to achieve natural degradation

Expert opinion

Municipal People's Congress representative:

We will continue to promote packaging legislation

Beijing People's Congress representative and garbage disposal expert Wang Weiping pointed out that in fact, the problem of excessive packaging pollution has been criticized by environmentalists. In 2008, China issued the "Circular Economy Promotion Law", which only mentioned "limiting excessive packaging" in one sentence, but there were no specific regulations. At present, China only has some local government-level decrees and has issued many standards, which mainly focus on packaging safety and material specifications, but there are almost no environmental regulations or restrictions on the use and recycling of packaging.

How do the international community solve the packaging problem? Wang Weiping said that the first is to limit the use, and the second is to recycle. Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other countries have legal provisions, and the restrictions are very specific. For example, the volume of the packaging must be less than one-tenth of the volume of the article; the weight of the packaging cannot be greater than the packaged object; the value of the packaging cannot be higher than the packaged object.

Wang Weiping said that recycling is also a common practice internationally. For example, in Japan, the outer packaging of express delivery is provided by the express delivery company, and the sender needs to inform the size of the express delivery in advance. After the courier delivers the express, the courier must take the express packaging away on the spot and recycle it.

"Setting rules for express packaging will not increase the burden on citizens, and it can also solve the problem," said Wang Weiping. He once proposed legislation to solve the problem of packaging pollution, and will continue to promote it in the future.

Reporter's Notes

Garbage reduction requires joint efforts from all parties

Satisfied with the mentality of good face and ostentation, the problem of excessive packaging has a long history. A piece of wrapping paper and a packaging box are like people's clothes and socks. They are bright and beautiful when put on, but they can be put into the closet when taken off, but they are thrown directly into the trash can. The rise of online shopping has made excessive packaging more and more serious. According to statistics, the small packaging thrown out by each family in 2015 can cover 200,000 football fields in total, which is a shocking number. The pollution caused by the treatment of these packaging wastes to the environment and the energy consumed in the production of these "200,000 football fields" of packaging materials are even more regrettable.

In fact, the reduction and recycling of garbage has also been the call of environmentalists for many years. Recycling requires the relevant government departments to think and find ways. Although there will be various practical problems in promoting it, I believe that with the development of science and technology today, technical means are not a problem. The government's mandatory constraints are important, but the reduction of packaging is something you and I can do every time we click to buy. Can the merchants complain that "the packaging is not exquisite and there are no good reviews" start from you? Can you also add a sentence for the items you use, "try to reduce packaging"?

In short, garbage reduction requires the joint efforts of the government, merchants, and individuals.

This article was written by Beijing Morning Post reporters Han Na and Wang Ping

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