China’s Parcel Packaging Waste Sparks Environmental Issues

A logistics warehouse of a courier company based in Beijing. Goods to be delivered all over the city are piled like a mountain. A massive amount of waste will inevitably be produced./Beijing Youth Daily.

China, which inevitably has to be G1 in almost all fields, has been confirmed to be a superpower that produces a tremendous amount of courier packaging waste. It’s unsurprising, considering the annual courier volume has exceeded 100 billion for three consecutive years.

According to recent reports from media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency, the situation has become more severe this year as the number of parcels has surpassed 120 billion for the first time. If it is confirmed that the amount of paper and plastic courier waste this year will undoubtedly set a new record, surpassing the previous 9 million tons and 1.8 million tons, no further explanation is needed. It seems pretty appropriate to say that the true face of the delivery powerhouse is being revealed. It seems inevitable that measures to regulate courier packaging will be strongly demanded.

Specific measures are known to be in preparation. This can be well understood by looking at the implementation plan recently jointly announced by six central government agencies, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the overall economic planning agency of China, and the State Post Bureau. They have strongly expressed their will to ban harmful packaging materials and build a standard system for green courier packaging by 2025.

Upon closer examination, the production and use of non-degradable, disposable packaging materials are expected to be banned entirely by 2025. The custom of providing disposable plastic products for free at hotels will also be phased out. Naturally, plastic packaging by delivery companies will have to be banned.

That’s not all. From now on, e-commerce and delivery companies must take the lead in reducing excessive packaging materials. The same can be said for the use of recycled packaging materials. Accordingly, these companies will be obliged to use recycled packaging materials for at least 10% of the parcels delivered within the same city by 2025.

China has long been wearing the stain of being the world’s largest plastic waste producer. Without measures, they will inevitably have to maintain this less-than-proud world No. 1 position forever. Although it’s late, it can be said that the Chinese authorities have set the right direction by taking measures. Now, all that’s left is to implement them properly.

By. Soon Do Hong