Most of the express plastic bags on the market are made of "recycled materials" and the State Post Bureau has issued a green packaging implementation plan

Is your hand covered with dust after receiving a courier? You may have received an unhealthy courier package! Reporters found that the most common types of courier outer packaging plastic bags on the market have a great "toxic" risk. Because they are made of "recycled materials", a large amount of harmful substances may remain. Due to the cost compression of various links such as micro-businesses, e-commerce, and logistics companies, unhealthy mail packages are becoming more and more common.

Text/Guangzhou Daily reporter Liu Ranran

The correct way to open a courier package

1. Place old newspapers or other papers on the table and place the courier on it.

2. Cut the tape with scissors or a paper cutter, pick up the package, and take out the courier. It is best to wear gloves.

3. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap or hand sanitizer immediately, and then appreciate the goods in the courier.

4. After unpacking the package, the express packaging should be cleaned up outdoors or in a ventilated place in a timely and reasonable manner, and should not be stored around the desk or at home.

Case

Pus and ulceration at the corners of the mouth after "tearing the express" with the mouth

"It turns out that "tearing the express" with the mouth can really kill you." Netizens reported that after a woman in Xiamen tore the express packaging bag with her bare hands and bit it with her teeth, not only did small red bumps appear at the corners of her mouth, but she also had pus and ulceration later. After excluding various possibilities, the dermatologist judged that she might have been allergic to the express packaging when she was tearing it with her mouth.

The reporter found that some people had "rash" on their hands after unpacking the express bag, and some people were immediately "smoked" by the irritating smell after opening the express bag. Most people often find that the express bag is very dirty, with a layer of dust on it, and there is a strange smell.

A doctor from the respiratory department of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University told reporters that almost every day the respiratory department has patients who suffer from allergies, sneezing, tears and vomiting due to unpacking express packages. In the past summer, there were particularly many people with hand and mouth allergies due to direct contact with express bags. Some people even needed hospitalization: "Now you have to buy toilet paper online. As express delivery becomes more and more popular, the resulting garbage and pollution are also "entering the houses" of citizens every day. Many people are only concerned with receiving express deliveries happily, but completely ignore the pollution sources in their hands."

Visit

A USB flash drive weighing more than a dozen grams is 26 times heavier than its actual weight after packaging

At an express delivery outlet in Tianhe District, the reporter saw that even an ordinary small express delivery similar to a USB flash drive must be tightly packaged with "three layers inside and three layers outside". The packaged express is more than ten times heavier than the actual object.

After the courier put the USB drive into a small paper box, he filled the space with bubble film and soft recycled paper, and then wrapped transparent tape around the paper box. This is not the end. Although it has been sealed with transparent tape, the courier still put a gray plastic express packaging bag on the outside, put the express order on the plastic bag, and then wrapped several circles of transparent tape until it was tightly closed.

Bubble film, soft recycled paper, paper box, transparent tape, plastic bag... Why does a USB drive that weighs only a dozen grams need so many packages? The courier told reporters, "This is already considered a small amount. I used to help WeChat merchants pack sunglasses. A pair of glasses had to be wrapped with more than a dozen circles of outer packaging inside and outside, and a large bubble pad alone was needed..."

It is reported that the reason why every courier has to add almost harsh packaging is to ensure that the goods are intact when they are delivered to the buyer; and the excessive use of plastic products is to prevent the courier from being rained on the road. Moreover, most express delivery orders do not have double-sided tape on the back. If you want to stick it directly on the express packaging, you can only stick a layer of transparent tape in all directions without dead angles... And this USB flash drive weighing more than ten grams was finally sent out with packaging that had reached nearly 500 grams, which is 26 times its weight.

Revelation 1

Sometimes there are more bacteria on express packaging than on toilet lids

The head of the quality control department of a company that produces plastic bags for express packaging told reporters that the packaging bags currently used by express companies are usually polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyethylene (PE). The raw materials of this type of packaging are mostly made of chemical materials, domestic waste, etc. The main raw material is old plastic. Although the cost is very low, it may contain a large amount of plasticizers, flame retardants and other harmful substances. Moreover, waste plastics may also retain the pollution from the first use.

The reporter learned from the Third Hospital of Southern Medical University that the harmful chemicals left in some express packaging may cause human allergies or decreased skin immune function. In severe cases, it may also affect the liver and kidneys through blood circulation. Although chemicals need high temperatures or a long time to evaporate, the logistics industry currently generally adopts centralized sorting, coupled with long-distance container transportation, which is not only likely to aggravate the pollution efficiency, but may also be contaminated by bacteria and pollution carried by the packers and the surrounding environment, further increasing its dirtiness. "The bacteria on a piece of express packaging are sometimes more than those on a toilet lid, which is even equivalent to rummaging through a trash can."

Revelation 2

Layer by layer of cost compression creates unhealthy parcels

"In fact, this is a vicious cycle brought about by cost compression." Xiaoyan, a micro-business who often sends express delivery, told reporters, "Now Taobao and micro-business competition is too fierce. Most businesses have launched free shipping to attract customers, and the express delivery costs are borne by themselves, so generally we will choose logistics companies by ourselves, and the express packaging used is relatively cheap, of poor quality and not environmentally friendly. In order to ensure that the goods are not damaged by violent sorting, sun and rain on the way, we can only ask the courier to pack several layers... In this way, each additional layer of packaging may cause more pollution."

"Especially for some fragile items, if they are damaged on the road, the courier and the merchant will have to pay for it together." A courier said that their response is very simple: pack several layers. Why not switch to more environmentally friendly and durable packaging materials? When the courier was asked about this question, he looked helpless: "If you can earn more than ten yuan or even dozens of yuan for each express delivery, who doesn't want to use good packaging materials? But now you only earn one yuan and eighty cents for a courier package, how can you afford good packaging bags?" The courier also said that now all express delivery companies are using "simple and extensive" methods to seize the market. No one wants to lose "WeChat business" and "e-commerce" users who account for a high proportion of orders because of using better packaging materials, so they can only bite their teeth and use cheap packaging materials.

As a result, the violent sorting of couriers, the sun and rain during transportation, the increasingly thick express packaging, and the repeated compression of the cost of single plastic bags have formed a vicious circle, and many citizens who love online shopping have encountered "toxic mail packages" more frequently.

How to distinguish:

Identify mail packages by color

Not completely reliable

Is there an industry standard for plastic bags for express packaging? How do express delivery companies in Guangzhou do it? The reporter learned from Guangzhou Post that Guangzhou has compiled the "Standards for the Packaging of Articles for Sale". The plastic film packaging bags of the postal system are all made of resin as the main raw material. After die-cutting, printing and sealing, they are made into environmentally friendly bag-type packaging products that can be directly used by users. The courier has the responsibility to ensure the cleanliness and hygiene of the parcels from the time they receive the express until they are delivered to the door. In other words, as long as citizens send parcels from the post office, they don't have to worry about receiving "toxic parcels" or "contaminated parcels".

The relevant person in charge of SF Express also told reporters that they have now finely classified the seven major express packaging materials, and strictly classified the recyclable, reusable and disposable packaging raw materials, and the required materials have also been inspected by relevant departments. If citizens find that the express package is damaged and contaminated during transportation, they can refuse to accept it.

Recently, a saying has been widely circulated online: ¡°You can tell whether a courier package is toxic by looking at its color¡±: Paper courier packaging is the most expensive and is rarely seen; the second is white plastic bags, which cost about 0.25 yuan each and are also relatively rare, with the least pollution among plastic packaging; then there is green and yellow, which are a mixture of half old materials and half new materials, and are occasionally seen in air parcels; the most common color is gray-black, which is almost always made of ¡°recycled materials¡± and may contain a large amount of harmful substances. Regarding this statement, relevant people in the industry said: "The saying that gray and black are the most polluting is because recycled old plastics are colorful, and adding gray and black is the easiest to cover the original color, but it is not reliable to judge the degree of pollution and the adverse effects on the human body. The best way is to use high-end logistics high-quality materials."

Related policies

Issuance of plans to promote

Green packaging for express delivery

The central government portal website shows that China's express delivery exceeded 20.6 billion pieces in 2015, ranking first in the world, but the huge total volume and variety of express delivery packaging and the environmental problems it brings have also attracted great attention from the society. The State Post Bureau recently issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting Green Packaging in the Express Delivery Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan") to improve the utilization efficiency of express delivery packaging, reduce packaging consumption, and reduce environmental pollution.

The "Implementation Plan" requires that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the use rate of environmentally friendly boxes, environmentally friendly bags and environmentally friendly tapes that meet standard requirements in the express delivery industry will increase significantly, and the use of transfer boxes, cage trucks and other equipment will be promoted to further reduce the use of woven bags and tapes. By 2020, packaging materials with excessive levels of toxic and hazardous substances will be basically eliminated, and a socialized express packaging recycling system will be basically established.

In response to the "excessive packaging" problem reported by express delivery users, the plan proposes to encourage companies to explore simple packaging and reduce secondary packaging.

Plastic Industry Video