An express package recycling bin is set up at an agency of SF Express in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang province. Couriers throw express packages into the bin. Photo by Li Jianlin.

China is addressing waste from its giant e-commerce & courier industries. People’s Daily Online.

China is moving to address a major environmental problem that has arisen around the country's booming e-commerce and courier industry.

According to the State Post Bureau, China's courier industry handled a total of 83 billion express parcels in 2020, up 30.8 per cent year on year. The huge boom in the industry has facilitated people's daily life – but the packages of express parcels are also generating massive waste.

An exhibitor introduces a full-automatic packaging machine at the 2020 Packaging World (Yiwu) Expo, Aug. 19, 2020. Photo by Gong Xianming. People's Daily Online.

Data from the State Administration for Market Regulation indicate that China's courier industry produces around 1.8m tonnes of plastic waste and over 9m tonnes of paper waste each year.

Realising the serious environmental problem, many e-commerce enterprises have taken measures to "slim" express parcels – but now China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) recently issued a notice to help guide the e-commerce industry to become more environment-friendly.

Twelve measures in four major areas, including promoting the management of green supply chains for express parcel packages, were launched.

"It was recommended by a courier," said a man surnamed Li from Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, pointing to a "Feng Box," a recyclable express parcel package launched by Chinese express delivery giant SF Express. "I just want to contribute my part to environmental protection," he told People's Daily.

The Feng Box is not sealed by traditional packaging materials, such as adhesive tapes, cartons or plastic fillings, but a smart anti-theft seal. Each Feng BOX can be used at least 50 times, significantly reducing the consumption of packaging materials.

The MOFCOM requests e-commerce enterprises in key areas to gradually stop using non-degradable plastic bags and disposable woven bags – and reduce the use of non-degradable plastic cohesive tapes.

Degradable bio-based packaging bags are being produced at a workshop of a packaging firm in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Dec. 16, 2020. Photo by Liang Xiaopeng. People's Daily Online.

Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, replaced part of its plastic packaging with environmental-friendly bags made from bio-based materials during the "Double 11," the largest online shopping festival in China, last year.

The new bags, made from reproducible materials such as straws and ageing grains, can each save 4.4g of plastics at the production end, significantly reducing the negative impact of express parcel packaging on the environment.

Direct sourcing and direct shipping can also effectively reduce the use of packaging materials. According to a spokesman for JD.com, a major e-commerce platform in China, the company is encouraging merchants to apply external drop-shipping.

At present, over 1000 kinds of commodities on the platform are directly shipped from the suppliers, reducing the use of 150m cartons.

The MOFCOM move also proposes enhancing the capability of digital operations, encouraging modern information technologies among e-commerce enterprises, such as cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, better match supply and demand, improving stock turnover, and enhancing the sharing of multi-channel logistics to reduce logistics.

This article was originally produced and published by People's Daily Online.
View the original at en.people.cn