How can express packaging be more green and low-carbon?
In recent years, while the rapid development of e-commerce and the express delivery industry has brought convenience to people's lives, the contradiction between the garbage generated by traditional express packaging and environmental protection has become increasingly prominent. In order to alleviate the enormous environmental pressure, the concept of green express delivery has emerged. Understand the current situation of the impact of express packaging on the environment, and analyze the environmental issues of traditional express packaging in China.
The green governance of express packaging has continuously achieved new results. According to data from the National Postal Administration, as of the end of September, the proportion of e-commerce express packages in China no longer requiring secondary packaging exceeded 90%, with over 800 million mail packages using recyclable packaging, 127000 postal express delivery outlets with standard packaging waste recycling devices, and over 600 million corrugated cardboard boxes with good recycling and reuse quality. This indicates that the concept of green development has accelerated its integration into the entire development process of the express delivery industry.
In recent years, China's express delivery business volume has repeatedly reached new highs. Especially since March this year, the monthly business volume of the express delivery industry has exceeded 10 billion pieces, with a year-on-year growth rate of double-digit in the second and third quarters.
Thousands of express packages have brought an increasing amount of packaging, and the express industry's annual consumption of paper is showing a rapid growth trend. Many express deliveries still have the suspicion of over packaging, causing significant pressure on the environment.
We need to implement a comprehensive conservation strategy, promote the conservation and intensive utilization of various resources, and accelerate the construction of a waste recycling system. In recent years, relevant departments have accelerated the promotion of green packaging governance for express delivery in areas such as legal formulation, standard introduction, and policy guidance, and continued to implement green projects. Quantitative requirements have been put forward for the recycling and utilization of express packaging such as recyclable transfer bags and recyclable express boxes.
From the perspective of data, the green governance of express packaging has achieved significant results, but why is it that many people do not have a clear perception of green packaging in their daily lives? This also starts with the current abandoned packaging of express delivery. At present, abandoned packaging for express delivery mainly consists of a mixture of product packaging, e-commerce packaging, and delivery service packaging. From the perspective of materials, abandoned packaging for express delivery can be divided into two types: paper and plastic. Among them, more than 90% of paper packaging waste such as envelopes and packaging boxes can be utilized as resources through social recycling, network recycling, and post station recycling.
However, compared to the continuously increasing business volume of express delivery, the overall proportion of recyclable packaging usage is still relatively small. The main reasons are as follows: firstly, the packaging cost is high. Taking recyclable packaging boxes as an example, the procurement cost is 15 to 20 times that of cardboard boxes of the same specification. In addition, the operation and management costs of recycling, cleaning, loss, allocation, etc., significantly increase the average single use cost compared to ordinary cardboard boxes; Secondly, it is difficult to recycle on the consumer end. Some consumers lack a strong awareness of green concepts and have not yet established the habit of circular express packaging. Lack of understanding and cooperation in recycling recyclable packaging is common, making it difficult to form large-scale use and recycling.
The use of environmentally friendly packaging has a high proportion of cost factors, and government departments need to provide a certain degree of support. This includes policy and financial support. From the perspective of environmental governance costs, front-end governance is superior to back-end governance. It is necessary to start from the policy aspect, first of all, to improve laws and regulations. The "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" that have been issued do not explicitly specify the recycling and processing methods and processes for express packaging. In response to this issue, the government should try its best to assist in modifying or introducing relevant regulations to fill the gap, such as mandatory recycling of express packaging and incremental use of green packaging. Or adjust the express packaging recycling enterprises by establishing a reward and punishment mechanism.
Regarding regulatory authorities, through a series of visits and investigations, it has been found that there is a lack of professional accountability and mutual blame among the departments responsible for the recycling of express packaging, neglecting the environmental pollution caused by express packaging. Therefore, establishing a regulatory department corresponding to the gap is crucial, with specific, standardized, and strict responsibilities for the responsible department, supplemented by supervision and incentive mechanisms. In addition, to promote the green development of express packaging, the government needs to provide corresponding financial support.
