Sichuan accelerated the green transformation of express packaging to turn "yellow" boxes into "green" boxes

 

Sichuan speed up the green transformation of express pastry packaging supplies packaging to make "yellow" boxes "green" boxes

From January to September,About 49 million corrugated cartons were recycled for express mail in Sichuan Province

The province has set up a total of 19,631 express outlets with packaging recycling devices Coverage over 50%

On the evening of November 9, Huang Lu, a citizen of Chengdu, opened the yellow outer packaging of his express delivery at the Courier station, put it into the recycling box, and scanned the code to obtain a dime of recycling gold. "Although the money is not much, it is very meaningful and makes the garbage in the eyes of the previous become valuable." I think it's a greener box." The "garbage" in Huang Lu's eyes is not a small number.

In 2022, the postal industry completed 139.1 billion deliveries, and the average daily express delivery exceeded 300 million. Behind the rapid development of the express pastry packaging supplies delivery industry is the continuous increase in packaging waste. Relevant data show that China's express delivery industry consumes more than 9 million tons of paper waste and about 1.8 million tons of plastic waste every year. Especially during the "Double 11" period, it is the "crest" of waste generation.

How do you make it green?

"It's full again! On the afternoon of November 10, Zhang Quan, the person in charge of Chengdu Saddle Community Express service station, could not help but sigh when he saw that the green recycling box of express packaging at the door of the store was full. Zhang Quan told reporters that during the "Double 11" period, the green recycling boxes can be filled twice a day, and these collected express boxes will be used for secondary mailing or reuse.

In 2021, the Ministry of Transport published the "Measures for the Management of Mail Express Packaging", which requires that packaged mail express should adhere to the principles of practicality, safety and environmental protection, meet the requirements of delivery production operations and security, save resources, avoid excessive pastry packaging supplies packaging, and prevent environmental pollution.

According to this approach, many enterprises began to explore. For example, the Courier station of Huanglu can receive cash by recycling express pastry packaging supplies packaging, and some other stations also have rewards such as exchanging points for eggs.

In November this year, the circular Economy Industry Research Center of the School of Environment of Tsinghua University carried out the second wave of collection of express pastry packaging supplies packaging material identification across the country. By collecting a large number of photos of express pastry packaging supplies packages, and based on image recognition technology, we can find out the production and waste law of express packaging waste.

Many businesses are also getting involved in recycling. At Cainiao, nearly half of deliveries sent by consumers use recycled old delivery packaging. Packaging that cannot be used again will be pulped into exercise books and given to primary school students by public welfare organizations. Yunda Express introduces a recyclable smart file bag through the way of identity encryption scanning code opening, so that the pastry packaging supplies package no longer uses tape and can be recycled, saving consumables.

These approaches have had some success. As of the end of September, more than 800 million express shipments of recyclable packaging were used in the national e-commerce, and nearly 130,000 express outlets with standard pastry packaging supplies packaging waste recycling devices were set up.

What are the other difficulties?

Turning a "yellow" box into a "green" box is not an easy task.

The first is cost. According to relevant statistics, if all express pastry packaging supplies packaging is replaced with biodegradable plastic bags and environmental tape, the entire express industry will increase the cost of 18.79 billion yuan according to the 2020 business volume, which will exceed 2% of the business income of express service enterprises.

As the leader of the express pastry packaging supplies packaging material identification research group, Tan Yiqi, a doctoral student at the circular Economy Industry Research Center of the School of Environment, Tsinghua University, said that one of the purposes of studying the law of express production and waste is to further solve the cost problem from the root cause. "The state has promulgated a number of policies to promote the reduction of express packaging, green, recycling, to find out the specific materials of express packaging waste, to study where these materials come from and where they ultimately go, is the basis for promoting recycling and scientific management." Tan said she hopes the study will help make more scientific recycling recommendations.

"At present, the alternative path of express pastry packaging supplies packaging materials is not mature, for example, the price of degradable express bags is much higher than that of traditional packaging products, so the enthusiasm of enterprises is not high, and whether there are really environmental advantages of degradable alternatives?" It also needs to be revisited." Said Wen Zongguo, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Environment. In addition, the large volume of express orders and cross-regional logistics routes make it difficult to control the implementation process, and the challenges in cooperation between relevant departments are also prominent.

Some universities are leading the way. For example, Sichuan University has launched the "Campus carbon Asset Management system", which allows teachers and students to check the carbon reduction amount of participating green recycling pastry packaging supplies packages in real time, and encourages students to participate in green recycling at campus stations.

Sichuan has been on its way to promoting green pastry packaging supplies packaging. According to the statistics of the provincial Postal Administration, from January to September 2023, about 49 million corrugated cartons were recycled for express mail in Sichuan province. At present, there are 19,631 express outlets in the province with express pastry packaging supplies packaging recycling devices, with a coverage rate of more than 50%.

Wen Zongguo said that it is necessary to identify the characteristics of production and waste of express packaging to achieve accurate control. At the same time, it is necessary to simulate different express packaging waste management strategies such as recycling sharing, pastry packaging supplies packaging reduction, recycling, and material substitution, and formulate scientific control paths and policy objectives. "The green transformation of express packaging involves multiple entities upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and it is necessary to further identify and clarify the responsible entities to ensure the implementation of results."

The relevant person in charge of the provincial postal Administration said that it will urge and guide postal and express delivery enterprises to speed up the promotion of green pastry packaging supplies packaging and the use of new energy vehicles, and accelerate the green transformation and development of the industry.

The State Post Bureau held a regular press conference in the fourth quarter of 2023 to introduce the progress of the green development of the postal express industry "9218" project. As of the end of September, the national e-commerce express no longer secondary packaging proportion of more than 90%, the use of recyclable packaging of more than 800 million mail express, recycling quality intact corrugated boxes more than 600 million, express packaging green governance work has achieved initial results.

Lin Hu, deputy director of the market supervision Department of the State Post Bureau, introduced that since the beginning of this year, the State Post Bureau has accelerated the standardization, recycling, reduction, and harmless of express packaging, strengthened the top-level design of green development, fully implemented the "9218" project, promoted scientific and technological innovation, strengthened departmental coordination and co-governance, strengthened industry supervision and management, and coordinated the green and low-carbon development of the industry. At the beginning of 2023, the Party group of the State Post Bureau proposed the implementation of the "9218" project, and made it clear that by the end of the year, the proportion of e-commerce express shipments no longer reached 90%, and the two controls of excessive packaging and plastic pollution were further promoted. The use of recyclable express packages reached 1 billion mail express shipments, and 800 million corrugated cartons with good quality were recycled and reused. The whole system and the whole industry in accordance with the "ban, limit, reduce, follow, and reduce" governance path, promote the original straight hair of e-commerce express, promote the recycling and reuse of paper packaging, and steadily improve the level of express packaging "four modernization".

In the next step, the State Post Bureau will focus on the national carbon peak carbon neutral goal, and strive to explore a new path of high-quality development oriented by ecological priority and green development. We will improve laws, standards and policies, adhere to the joint focus on production, life, and ecology, and gradually build a diversified green governance system featuring government leadership, social supervision, and industry self-discipline. Adhere to systematic governance and comprehensive policies, do not relax around the "9218" project, transfer pressure at various levels, strengthen supervision and assessment, strengthen the implementation of responsibilities, and ensure that the established goals are successfully completed by the end of the year. We will focus on three tasks. First, we need to pursue green development. The concept of green development runs through the whole process of production, operation and management. Pay attention to the effective connection of regulations and standards, continue to vigorously promote the addition of provisions for the green and low-carbon development of the postal industry in relevant regulations, and promote the establishment and formulation of standards such as restrictions on excessive packaging for express delivery. Actively promote the relevant departments to introduce policies in terms of financial funds, tax incentives, etc., and increase support for the green construction of industrial infrastructure and the application of green environmental protection packaging. Second, we will actively promote whole-chain governance. Strengthen the leading role of enterprise chain owners such as packaging production, e-commerce platforms, and commodity manufacturing, and promote the whole chain governance of express packaging design, production, sales, use, and recycling. Explore the promotion of local government-led recyclable express packaging pilot and packaging waste recycling and disposal, increase policy funding support, and expand the scale of circular packaging applications. Actively carry out the recycling and reuse of express packaging. Third, we will continue to intensify oversight. We will seriously investigate and punish violations of laws and regulations such as plastic pollution and excessive packaging. Increase the scope and intensity of sampling inspection of express mail packages. Accelerate the construction of a monitoring and analysis platform for green governance of express packaging, and regularly organize on-site spot checks.

Lin Hu introduced that express packaging has achieved obvious results in reduction, and the use of electronic waybills in the whole industry has basically achieved full coverage; The 5 layers of corrugated paper in the packaging box are reduced to 3 layers, a reduction of 40%; The tape width of 60 mm is reduced to less than 45 mm, a reduction of 25%. Heavy metal and solvent residue packaging has been effectively contained, and the development of express green packaging has steadily improved. At present, the waste packaging of express delivery generally recognized in society is actually composed of a mixture of commodity packaging, e-commerce packaging and delivery service packaging. Among them, paper packaging waste such as envelopes and packaging boxes has been recycled through social recycling, network recycling and post recycling, of which more than 90% can be reused as resources. In addition, due to factors such as the high cost of recyclable packaging and the difficulty of recycling at the consumer end, the use of recyclable packaging accounts for less overall than the volume of express delivery business. In the next step, the State Post Bureau will continue to promote express green packaging, strengthen the implementation of express green packaging standards, increase the breadth and depth of publicity efforts, jointly spread the concept of green consumption with other departments, guide the public to use green packaging, increase public perception and participation, and fully complete the goals of the "9218" project.