3.965 billion pieces, this is the total number of express parcels handled by China Post and express delivery companies from November 1 to 11 this year. Among them, the number of express parcels on the 11th alone reached 675 million pieces, an increase of 26.16% year-on-year, setting a new record. According to the State Post Bureau's forecast, China's express delivery business volume will exceed 80 billion pieces this year, and more and more people will benefit from the convenience brought by the development of the express delivery industry.

While the number of express deliveries is growing rapidly, how should the huge number of express packaging be handled? This year's "Double 11", the "greening" of express packaging has given people a new choice.

Recycling and Reuse of Express Packaging Boxes

Next to the express delivery point at the west gate of Communication University of China, there is an express packaging recycling box. During this year's "Double 11", many students unpacked the express delivery boxes on the spot and put them into the recycling box. When returning goods, you can ask the staff for the recycled cartons for free.

"Generally speaking, a university delivers about 10,000 to 20,000 express parcels every day, and there are more during online shopping festivals such as "Double 11" and "618". In the past, there was no place to dispose of express boxes at the express delivery point, so students threw the boxes into the trash cans on campus, which was not environmentally friendly and increased the workload of the cleaning staff." The person in charge of the delivery point said that now that there are recycling boxes, about 30% to 40% of students will take the initiative to recycle and reuse the boxes.

Chen Yue, a junior student at the Communication University of China who was receiving express delivery, told reporters that there was no opportunity for students to reuse the express boxes, and they took up space and needed to be thrown away somewhere. "Now that there are recycling boxes, the excess packaging can be recycled directly after picking up the items, which can also be regarded as a contribution to environmental protection."

Data shows that 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 they are showing a rapid growth trend. "Secondary use" as an important way to reduce express waste has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life.

Currently, China Post has set up packaging waste recycling devices in more than 11,000 business outlets; SF Express has set up standard express packaging waste recycling devices in 18,000 outlets and carried out packaging recycling in 40 regions; nearly 30% of JD.com's outlets have set up express packaging recycling devices, and so far, 150 million cartons have been recycled and reused... Bian Zuodong, deputy director of the Market Supervision Department of the State Post Bureau, said that the recycling of express packaging boxes is an important way to develop green express delivery. He hopes that users will recycle and reuse basically intact cartons as much as possible to make the best use of them.

Reduce excessive packaging of express delivery

In addition to the secondary use of express packaging boxes, how to reduce excessive packaging of express delivery is also a key point that green express delivery urgently needs to improve.

Consumers may have some intuitive feelings about excessive packaging of express delivery. For example, it is just a small ornament a few centimeters long, but it has to be disassembled from layers of plastic bubble nets, and the weight of the packaging often exceeds the product itself.

The express packaging that people come into contact with on a daily basis is mainly composed of cartons, plastic bags, fillers and transparent tape. A large amount of wood is consumed in the production process of cartons; and plastic bags, fillers and transparent tape, etc., are basically landfilled or incinerated, which puts great pressure on the environment.

"Overall, the situation of excessive packaging is gradually improving in the industry, and green and simple express packaging and labels are gradually being promoted." A relevant person in charge of ZTO Express said that taking ZTO Express as an example, the current utilization rate of electronic waybills in the entire network exceeds 99.9%, which reduces 80% of paper consumables compared with traditional waybills; the traditional 48mm tape is changed to a "slimming tape" below 45mm, and the packaging ratio is greater than 90%; there are more than 6.37 million recyclable transit bags with RFID (radio frequency identification technology) chips, and it is expected that the full coverage of recyclable transit bags in the entire network will be achieved by the end of 2020.

Hou Yanbo, deputy director of the State Post Bureau Office and second-level inspector, said that this year the State Post Bureau proposed the "9572" project, that is, by the end of 2020, it will strive to achieve a 90% packaging ratio of "slimming tape" below 45 mm, a 70% rate of no secondary packaging for e-commerce express mail, a 90% utilization rate of recyclable transit bags, and an additional 20,000 postal express outlets with standard packaging waste recycling devices.

As of the end of August, China's "slimming tape" packaging ratio reached 94.3%, the rate of no secondary packaging for e-commerce express mail reached 68.5%, the utilization rate of recyclable transit bags reached 87.2%, and 35,000 new postal express outlets with standard packaging recycling bins were added. Hou Yanbo pointed out that it is no surprise to fully achieve the end-of-year goals according to this progress, which also means that the "green packaging" level of the express delivery industry has been greatly improved.

The green product certification system for express packaging has been officially implemented

In order to further promote the green development of the express packaging industry and increase the supply of green products, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Post Bureau have also actively promoted the establishment of a green product certification system for express packaging to help the green development of the industry.

On October 30, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Post Bureau issued the "Catalogue of Green Products for Express Packaging (First Batch)" and "Certification Rules for Green Products for Express Packaging" in the form of a joint announcement, and the green product certification system for express packaging has been officially implemented.

According to Bo Yumin, Deputy Director of the Certification and Supervision Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the first batch of green certification catalogues for express packaging give priority to 10 products such as packaging boxes and tapes that are widely used in the express industry, and are evaluated from the aspects of resources, energy, environment and quality based on the "Technical Requirements for Green Products for Express Packaging Certification".

"Express packaging products that have obtained green certification mean that they have met the requirements of resource conservation, environmental harmlessness, and consumer friendliness. For example, they use natural, degradable or recyclable raw materials, strictly control the heavy metal content of products, have no irritating odor, can be recycled many times, use less tape, and are recyclable." Bo Yumin said that taking the common paper express packaging boxes as an example, the packaging boxes that have passed the green product certification must use recycled paper or recycled plant fiber as the basic material, and strictly control the content of metals such as lead and mercury. The product packaging adopts buckle, zipper and other designs, uses less or no tape packaging, the product odor meets the requirements of national and industry standards, and uses environmentally friendly water-based ink for printing and the printing area does not exceed the specified proportion.

Bo Yumin pointed out that with the implementation of the express packaging green product certification system, it is believed that consumers will soon see express packaging products such as envelopes, packaging boxes, packaging bags, and waybills printed with green product logos when receiving and sending express delivery. At the same time, express packaging with the Chinese green product logo will also carry Chinese-made export goods to all parts of the world, and the green logo will become an important carrier for China to practice green development.

(Reporters Zi Qian and Chen Chen)

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