Express packaging recovery difficult

[China Packaging Network News] With the rapid development of e-commerce, China's annual business volume of express delivery has increased year by year. According to statistics from the State Post Bureau, China’s express delivery volume exceeded 20 billion in 2015, but at the same time, packaging waste generated from express parcels also reached millions of tons. How to effectively recycle express packaging waste has become an increasingly serious social problem.

Waste recycling countries have high skills

In some developed countries, the issue of courier packaging recycling has appeared as early as the last century. Many countries have made mandatory regulations on the recycling of packaging wastes by formulating relevant policies and regulations.

The United States began to pay attention to green packaging in the 1990s. In order to increase recovery enthusiasm, governments across the United States appropriately exempt corporate taxation based on the level of recycling of corporate packaging. At the same time, the United States also stipulates in the "Resource Conservation and Recycling Law": to reduce the consumption of packaging materials and to recycle and reuse packaging waste.

Defining the responsibilities of all parties in laws and regulations is conducive to the operation and accountability of waste recycling systems. In this regard, the German approach is well-placed. In 1991, Germany introduced the “Administrative Measures for Packaging Wastes” and proposed that the management of packaging waste should be carried out in the order of “reduction, reuse, recycling, and final disposal”, and set recycling targets for different packaging wastes. Time limit, mandatory requirements of packaging manufacturers, vendors responsible for packaging recycling. In 1997, Germany introduced the “Recycling and Recycling Law of Packaging”, which requires that, in addition to packaging manufacturers, companies engaged in transportation, agents, wholesalers, and retailers must also be responsible for the recovery of packaging.

In Asia, Japan’s approach is worth learning from. It not only formulates and implements the "Energy Conservation and Promotion of Recycling Law" and "Recycling and Utilization Law", but also commits itself to the construction of a recycling system. Japan encourages the establishment of a large number of recycling sites in the country. After consumers classify packaging waste, the Japanese collection and transportation system transports the classified packaging wastes to a special processing center for recycling through timed recycling, assembly transfer, etc. Remanufacturing processing.

There is still a lot of effort under the institutional guarantee

In China, how to effectively suppress "over-packaging" and increase recycling efficiency?

Recently, China's State Post Bureau issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Green Packaging Industry in the Express Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), proposing that express delivery packaging should achieve significant results in terms of greening, reduction, and recycling.

In response to the problem of "over-packaging" that is reflected by the masses, the "Implementation Plan" proposes to increase unnecessary training and standardize operational procedures to avoid unnecessary over-packaging. In addition, we will give full play to the role of big data and strengthen the integration of express companies and e-commerce, manufacturing, and service industries, and significantly reduce unnecessary secondary packaging in key areas and key areas.

Regarding express package recycling, the “Implementation Plan” incorporates the recycling and reuse of packaging materials into the “Express Delivery Regulations” and “Circular Economy Promotion Law” from the policies and regulations.

A deputy director of an environmental company in China said that it would be very beneficial to many parties if they can recycle courier packaging waste. Of course, this also depends on the benign cooperation between the government, enterprises and consumers. Only by working together can we win the game.