In a kindergarten in Changxing, Zhejiang, students make handicrafts with waste paper boxes under the guidance of teachers. Xinhua News Agency

Data source: Statistical Communiqu¨¦ of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2020

[Research Report]

Editor's Note

As the concept of ecological civilization has taken root in people's hearts, people are increasingly aware of the close connection between small things around them and environmental protection. The impact of express packaging waste on the environment is such an important matter that seems to be taken for granted but actually needs to be paid attention to.

China's express delivery service industry has ranked first in the world for seven consecutive years and has maintained a rapid growth trend. Recently, real-time monitoring data from the State Post Bureau showed that as of June 1, China's express delivery business volume in 2021 has exceeded 40 billion pieces, close to the level of the whole year of 2017. Starting from March 12, China's first special departmental regulation on express packaging management, the "Measures for the Management of Mail and Express Packaging", came into effect; the newly revised "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste", which came into effect in September 2020, also made relevant provisions for express packaging.

What is the current status of express packaging waste management, what "obstruction" links are facing, and how should it be effectively promoted? As another round of e-commerce shopping boom is about to start, let us find the answer from the research report of think tank experts, and take the "Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai Free Shipping Zone" where the express industry is developed as an example to calculate the "environmental protection and saving account" of express packaging.

For most people, online shopping has become an indispensable part of life. Correspondingly, in recent years, the amount of express packaging waste has increased rapidly, becoming the primary increase in urban domestic waste and an important source of environmental pollution. According to preliminary estimates, China's express delivery industry consumes more than 9 million tons of paper waste and about 1.8 million tons of plastic waste each year, and it is showing a rapid growth trend. In megacities, the increase in waste from express packaging has accounted for 93% of the increase in domestic waste, and the growth trend is not slowing down. In the future, China's express delivery industry will continue to maintain a high-speed growth trend, and the output of express packaging waste will continue to increase, posing severe challenges to the management of urban domestic waste.

Express packaging is a low-value recyclable in domestic waste. Such items have certain recycling value, but due to high recycling costs and insufficient profit margins, they cannot be effectively recycled and reused simply by relying on market forces. It is necessary to build a large-scale and systematic governance system to make up for the loss of interests in the recycling process, so as to smooth the "last 100 meters" of garbage classification. At present, it is urgent to build a long-term governance mechanism for low-value recyclables such as express packaging, and through the "green and circular" transformation of express packaging, help fight the battle against pollution.

Current situation: Reduction has achieved certain results, and recycling problems need to be solved

Early in the morning of June 10, Beijing courier Xiao Wu began to receive and deliver express in the community. "When we package express items now, we always pay attention to using narrower tape, and on the basis of ensuring tight packaging, we wrap less to reduce tape waste. When packing express, we also use recyclable transit bags, which are more environmentally friendly than disposable plastic woven bags. More and more users are choosing electronic waybills, which makes our work more convenient and saves more paper for waybills." Xiao Wu feels that in recent years, especially since the end of last year, both express companies and ordinary residents have enhanced their awareness of saving and environmental protection.

Innovation and exploration, greening has achieved initial results. In December 2020, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the "Opinions on Accelerating the Green Transformation of Express Packaging" of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, proposing that by 2022, a unified, standardized and binding express green packaging standard system will be fully established, the proportion of e-commerce express parcels no longer being repackaged will reach 85%, the scale of recyclable express packaging applications will reach 7 million, and the level of standardization, greening and recycling of express packaging will be significantly improved. By 2025, express packaging will basically achieve green transformation.

In order to reduce the use of tape, Hainan Post has specially developed a reusable full-overlap tape-free packaging box. It replaces the five-layer double corrugated box with a three-layer single corrugated box, and does not require tape, glue, nails and other fixing materials when used. However, the cost of such cartons has also increased: a single box is 0.5 yuan to 1 yuan more expensive than before.

With the attention of relevant departments, the reduction and greening of express packaging have achieved certain results through measures such as promoting electronic waybills, prohibiting excessive express packaging, and implementing express packaging recycling plans. However, it should also be noted that the low recycling rate and difficulty in recycling of express packaging are still difficulties that need to be solved in the next stage.

Corrugated boxes and plastic bags account for nearly 80% of the total. From the perspective of packaging composition, China's express packaging is currently dominated by corrugated boxes and plastic bags. According to the "Research Report on the Characteristics and Management Status of Express Packaging Waste in China", express packaging mainly includes corrugated boxes (44.03%), plastic bags (33.5%), bagging cartons (9.47%), document bags (5.05%), etc.

A corrugated box weighs about 329 grams on average, of which corrugated paper accounts for 92.4%, other indirect packaging materials such as filling plastic film accounts for 5.5%, express waybills account for 1.3%, and plastic bags account for 0.8%. In 2018, China's consumption of corrugated paper reached 8.233 million tons. If it is not controlled, resources and the environment will face tremendous pressure. In 2018, China consumed about 851,800 tons of plastic packaging materials, 73% of which was directly recycled from waste materials and was gray or black; 25.6% of plastic packaging was produced by mixing waste materials and a small amount of virgin materials, generally yellow-green; and pure white express packaging plastic bags produced entirely from virgin materials (PP or PE, etc.) accounted for only 1.5%. Most of the waste materials are of unknown origin and will also cause environmental pollution during the production process. In 2020, the state issued relevant regulations, and the "plastic restriction order" was upgraded to a "plastic ban order", which on the one hand reduced the use of plastic packaging, and on the other hand stimulated the demand for corrugated paper in the express delivery industry. It is estimated that by 2025, the potential demand for paper express packaging will increase by 16.59 billion pieces, and the challenges and pressures facing China's resources and environment cannot be underestimated.

The recycling rate is low, and the overall recycling rate is less than 20%. After the express packaging is discarded, the packaging box can be partially recycled, but the recycling rate is less than 50%; while the recycling rate of plastic components such as fillers and tapes in express packaging is almost zero, making the overall recycling rate of express packaging less than 20%.

Take 2018 as an example, China's express delivery industry consumed a total of 8.3733 million tons of paper packaging materials, only about 340,800 tons of corrugated boxes were reused, and about 6.8889 million tons of express packaging waste paper were recycled by mobile recyclers. That is to say, only 4% of cartons are directly reused, the remaining 82.3% need to be downgraded to waste for reproduction, and about 15% are mixed into the domestic waste collection and transportation system due to pollution and damage.

Due to the difficulty of recycling, high recycling costs, and insufficient profits from recycled materials, the recycling rate of plastic foam boxes is only 70%~80%. About 95% of express plastic packaging bags are used because of the low recycling price and the plastic tape and waybills attached. The existing recycling channels cannot handle them and will eventually be incinerated or landfilled with domestic waste. Some auxiliary packaging materials also face the dilemma of large usage and low recycling rate. For example, for marketing considerations or to avoid damage during transportation, merchants tend to use large cartons for packaging, and add a large amount of plastic filling materials such as bubble bags and bubble columns to the packages, and overuse tape to wrap the packaging. Most of these auxiliary filling materials have entered domestic waste, putting great pressure on the sanitation system.

Bottleneck: Front-end classification is difficult to implement, and the recycling value chain is defective

Courier Xiao Zhang told the author: "Now, some customers will take the initiative to use old boxes on hand to pack when sending express delivery. But at present, more residents will still throw the express packaging directly into the trash can."

Ms. Xiao, who lives in Xicheng District, Beijing, is an "online shopping expert". She is a little distressed by the complexity of express packaging: "I often buy a small item the size of a fist, but receive a large box. When I open it, there is a thick layer of plastic film and several layers of plastic fillers. In fact, it is enough to reinforce it. There is no need for so much packaging."

Ms. Chen is a member of the CPPCC of a prefecture-level city in the "Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai Free Shipping Zone". During this year's municipal two sessions, her proposal was about the management of express packaging waste. In the community where she lives, although there are garbage sorting facilities, there is no special person to recycle express packaging waste, and residents lack the awareness of special classification for this purpose. "During the visit, I found that this is not a problem that only exists in our community. The cost of recycling express packaging is high, and the storage space in warehouses is limited. After recycling, it is often not properly handled, and many cartons can only be directly discarded as garbage." She wrote these thoughts into the proposal, suggesting that policies and regulations be improved, the express packaging standard system and recycling system be improved, and the public's green consumption habits be cultivated.

From the recycling status of express packaging waste, there is still a lot of room for improvement in China's existing recycling system.

There is a lack of mandatory grip for green packaging, and it is difficult to regulate express packaging from the source. A sound legal system can effectively restrain the disorderly behavior of market competition and is an important backing for the smooth recycling of express packaging. Because China's green packaging-related laws are still imperfect, the development of green scientific and technological innovation has been inhibited to a certain extent. At present, a relatively complete legal system has not yet been formed in the entire life cycle of express packaging design, production, consumption and resource utilization and treatment.

First, there are few normative laws, and the existing relevant laws and regulations are mostly programmatic and principled, without specific provisions on how to classify, etc., and the promotion of green packaging in the express delivery industry is still insufficient; second, some non-normative legal documents lack uniformity and effectiveness, lack universality and operability to solve the current problems of material selection and recycling of express packaging, and it is difficult to strictly regulate express packaging from the source of production.

The recycling system is not sound enough, and the recycling value chain is missing. The complete express packaging recycling system includes screening, allocation, and classification of recycled express packaging, and enters two channels of direct utilization and recycling according to the integrity of the packaging.

There are two main modes in the recycling stage: one is direct recycling by consumers. After consumers with recycling concepts sign for express delivery, they will place the express packaging at a fixed recycling station, which will be centrally handled by the express station staff. The other is that consumers discard the express packaging as domestic garbage, and the recycling unit will recycle it specifically. The survey shows that most consumers currently have a weak awareness of the classification of express packaging and can only rely on special recycling entities for recycling. At present, there is a lack of recycling entities specifically responsible for express packaging in China, and most of them rely on express station personnel. When their tasks are complicated and they have no time to take care of them, the recycling of express packaging is greatly affected.

In the later processing stage of express packaging, the processing center determines whether it should be repaired or recycled according to the degree of damage to the packaging. Due to problems such as excessive packaging and pasting of documents, the possibility of repair and reuse is low, and most packaging is treated harmlessly. It is worth noting that in recent years, the prices of bulk commodities such as crude oil have fallen, resulting in a year-on-year decline in the prices of low-value recyclables such as plastics, glass, and waste paper. Not only are ordinary residents unwilling to collect and classify them, but even scavengers lack interest in such waste. A large number of low-value express packaging can only be mixed with urban domestic garbage and processed together.

Suggestion: Focus on convenience and efficiency and reconstruct the recycling system

Since March 12 this year, the "Regulations on the Management of Mail and Express Packaging" has been officially implemented. Since then, implementation actions have been launched in various parts of China. For example, the Beijing Postal Administration has been carrying out special rectification work on excessive and random packaging of mail and express parcels. By issuing special rectification plans, urging express delivery companies to improve their working environment, and implementing the main responsibilities, it has tried to form a complete recycling system chain, and was the first in China to apply the "Regulations on the Management of Mail and Express Packaging" to investigate and punish illegal acts of express delivery companies.

At a postal business outlet in Xicheng District, Beijing, an old man picked up the express and told the staff that he wanted to leave the carton here directly. With the guidance of the staff, the old man put the basically intact carton in the carton recycling area. Such designs that facilitate citizens to participate in the recycling of express packaging waste are not uncommon in Beijing. According to statistics, as of the end of December 2019, the use rate of electronic waybills for express delivery in Beijing was 99%, 81% of e-commerce express parcels were no longer repackaged, the use rate of recycled transit bags reached 76%, the coverage rate of environmentally friendly packaging boxes in postal business outlets was 100%, and more than 1,600 postal and express business outlets were equipped with packaging waste recycling devices.

Based on the long-term needs of green development, China should focus on the pain points and difficulties in the recycling of low-value recyclables such as express packaging, pilot the construction of a complete recycling policy system, and formulate compulsory measures by classification through policy innovation, mechanism innovation, model innovation, and technological innovation to improve the recycling quality of express packaging, give full play to the leading role of the government, strengthen the main position of enterprises, and realize the formal management and market-driven recycling of express packaging.

Establish and improve the top-level design of green express packaging and explore the extended producer responsibility system. Focus on the entire life cycle, do a good job in the top-level design from the legal and regulatory level, and formulate express packaging supervision standards and implementation systems. Specifically, it may include: setting material usage standards from the source of packaging to improve the environmental protection level of packaging; requiring merchants to uniformly use express packaging made of environmentally friendly materials and degradable materials, and establishing an information database of express packaging manufacturers that meet the standards; issuing an extended producer responsibility system for express packaging, with express companies as the main body, assuming the responsibility for product recycling, recycling and final disposal; companies promoting green design and designing express packaging that is easy to recycle; strengthening market access and standard management, increasing crackdowns on companies that do not meet green express packaging standards, strictly controlling the source of materials, and avoiding waste from unknown sources from entering the express packaging production process.

Introduce a deposit return system to build an efficient and coordinated express packaging recycling system. Cartons are the most important type of express packaging, and their recycling process has the characteristics of easy identification of categories, high frequency of production, and high social collection costs. The new "Internet +" recycling platform can be used to build a deposit system recycling system, achieve efficient and safe recycling of cartons, and open a breakthrough in the recycling of low-value recyclables. The specific approach is: consumers pay a certain amount of deposit to express companies when purchasing express delivery, and merchants pay the corresponding deposit to express companies when purchasing cartons. When consumers send discarded cartons to express recycling machines or manual recycling points, the deposit clearing center will deduct the deposit of the express cartons from the associated account of the express company and return it to the consumer. This can separate express packaging from domestic waste, enter a closed-loop and safe recycling channel, and achieve secondary recycling.

Introduce a low-value recyclable recycling subsidy system to smooth the recycling and utilization interest chain. The government is the main beneficiary of the externalization of the benefits of waste recycling and disposal. It should study and formulate a policy for the calculation of urban low-value recyclable subsidies that follows the laws of the operation of the socialist market economy, and further implement subsidies for low-value recyclables to form a long-term operating mechanism for recycling and treatment. For example, establish a catalog of low-value recyclables, calculate the full life cycle costs of different types of low-value recyclables, determine subsidy standards, and explore the establishment of three-level financial guarantees at the provincial, municipal and district levels; make full use of the information platform and explore the path of "Internet + recycling". According to the types, quantities and values of low-value recyclables collected daily as displayed on the platform, the subsidies that enterprises should enjoy are calculated to expand the profit space of the express packaging recycling system, so as to consolidate the recycling effectiveness and mobilize the enthusiasm of merchants and express delivery companies to promote green packaging; promote the effective connection between the classification of domestic waste and the recycling of express packaging resources, and create a low-value recyclable recycling system from "source classification" to "end resource utilization".

(Author: Du Huanzheng, member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the National Inter-ministerial Joint Conference on the Development of Circular Economy, researcher of the Shanghai Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and director of the Institute of Circular Economy of Tongji University; Fan Yanan and Xu Yuanrong are both doctoral students of the School of Marxism of Tongji University; Song Shuwei is a master's student of the school)

Plastic Industry Video