Innovative R&D and Full-Process "Greening" as Express Packaging Slims Down

CCTV.com News:

As major e-commerce platforms begin their mid-year promotional campaigns, nearly 400 million express parcels have been moving across the country every day since June. However, in interviews reporters found that excessive express packaging of this kind is still widespread - big boxes inside small boxes, plastic foam stuffed into packaging boxes, and the goods only visible after tearing through layer upon layer of wrapping.

CCTV reporter Tang Ying:

These parcels are all goods I bought from different e-commerce platforms. Let's take a look at their packaging. Let's see what is inside this large parcel. Opening the parcel, the first thing we see is foam film, two layers in total, and inside is the tea I bought. We measured the length of the two pieces of film: the short one is 105 cm and the long one is 165 cm. Actually, let's try it - the short piece of film alone can wrap the tea, and placing it in the box can also serve to keep it safe during transport.

The reporter calculated that the volume of this removed packaging is about five times that of the purchased goods. Because much of it cannot be reused, it can only be sent to garbage collection stations, becoming the "main force" of household waste.

CCTV reporter Chen Qingbin:

At the recycling station in this community, we see that the largest volume of recyclables collected here is this kind of cardboard box. These boxes have already been sorted and stacked, along with some foam boxes and plastic items like these. All the recyclables at this station are collected by recyclers every day.

Staff told reporters that there are currently about 200 such stations in Tianjin, each handling about 5 tonnes of recyclables per day, and express packaging waste accounts for about 80% of that.

Innovative R&D: Green Packaging Overcomes Technical and Cost Barriers

At present, China's express delivery industry handles an average of 350 million parcels per day and serves nearly 700 million user visits per day, ranking first in the world for many consecutive years. Properly solving the problem of excessive express packaging is not only urgent, but also an inherent requirement for the industry's transformation, upgrading and sustainable development. The key to "slimming down" express packaging is to start from the source and work hard on packaging design. So how is the R&D of recyclable, green and environmentally friendly packaging going? And where do the difficulties in R&D and promotion lie? With these questions in mind, the reporter visited the China Post Green Packaging Innovation Laboratory.

CCTV reporter Tang Ying:

This is the R&D site of the China Post Green Packaging Innovation Laboratory. Behind me, this packaging prototyping machine is producing samples according to the design drawings of the R&D staff.

Gao Kang, packaging engineer at the China Post Green Packaging Laboratory:

Once the box is glued, it goes through physical tests such as drop, vibration and impact to verify the safety of the contents in real scenarios. If it does not meet the standard, we will consider first making some adjustments to the paper used and increasing the paper's grammage, and then we will adjust the selection of paper materials, redraw the drawings, repeat these steps and test again, until it meets our requirements.

Besides cardboard boxes, various items frequently used in express delivery, such as bubble wrap and tape, also undergo multiple rounds of testing. R&D staff said that the tape often wrapped around packaging is a key and difficult point in R&D.

Kang Li, technical director of the China Post Green Packaging Laboratory:

Compared with traditional ordinary tape, (degradable tape) may not be as strong when packing, reaching a level of about 50%, and its cost is also higher, increasing by nearly two times.

To solve this strength issue, Kang Li and her colleagues conducted countless tensile tests, observing the curves in real time. After nearly two years of continuous effort, they finally launched a new fully biodegradable eco-friendly tape this year. During waste recycling, the tape and the cardboard box do not need to be separated, and under suitable conditions this tape can even degrade directly into water and carbon dioxide.

Yet at the Green Packaging Innovation Laboratory, the reporter found that many recyclable packaging boxes developed long ago are rarely seen or used in daily life.

Kang Li, technical director of the China Post Green Packaging Laboratory:

The scenarios in which it is used are currently relatively fixed. It (needs to) be signed for in person so that the box can be collected back. If this (is) placed in a self-pickup locker, it is very difficult for the courier to collect it back, and for express delivery companies its loss rate is also relatively high, so we now need to gradually build an intelligent management system.

Kang Li told reporters that at present the use of recyclable mail bags by China's postal enterprises has reached 96%, but compared with the postal service's tens-of-billions-level and the entire industry's hundreds-of-billions-level business volumes, recyclable packaging at the end of express logistics still has great room for improvement in terms of usage volume and number of cycles.

Express Delivery Companies Explore Advancing "Green" Processes Across the Entire Flow

Express packaging must both ensure the safety of goods and avoid waste - how can a balance be found between the two? In the course of research, the reporter found that more and more express logistics companies attach importance to and think about this issue, advancing "green" processes across the entire flow in various ways to help express packaging "slim down and reduce its burden".

At an express delivery outlet in Yiwu, Zhejiang, the reporter saw a dedicated green shipping section. Consumers can accumulate the number of express outer packages they bring in and redeem them for shipping fees between different cities. In the transport stage, express delivery companies have replaced their previous 9.6-meter box trucks with 15-meter to 17-meter long high-capacity drop-and-hook trailers, immediately reducing pollutant emissions per parcel by more than 70%. Following the transport vehicle, the reporter saw green smart eco-friendly bags at the sorting center.

Zhu Zhongchen, deputy manager of the HR and General Management Group at the ZTO Express Zhejiang Yiwu Center:

This bag has now been cycled more than 110 times, and a chip is also installed so that it can be automatically sorted within this system. Through the popularization and promotion of e-waybills, in the subsequent transfer stage we can reduce pollutant emissions from paper by more than 60%. Basically, everything we use now has achieved recycling, which in fact forms a closed loop - only this truly reflects a core green and environmental value.

At a postal processing center in Guizhou, the reporter saw that many e-commerce products are beginning to use a green recyclable Qingliu box. Compared with traditional cardboard boxes, this box no longer requires tape to seal it; the box body has its own locking buckle, and only a self-adhesive address label is affixed.

Proportion of Parcels Without Secondary Packaging Expected to Reach 90% by the End of This Year

As a major express delivery country, the governance of excessive express packaging has always been an issue of widespread concern across society. As early as 2009, China carried out a special campaign to address express packaging. In April 2021, the State Post Bureau issued the "Special Governance Plan for Excessive and Arbitrary Packaging of Mail and Express Items". Through the efforts of many parties, awareness of green development in the express delivery industry has gradually increased. A relevant official said that by the end of this year, the goal is to achieve a 90% proportion of e-commerce express items that are no longer secondarily packaged.

The latest data from the State Post Bureau show that, based on sampling inspections of parcels in May, mail and express items using recyclable packaging reached 380 million, and corrugated cartons recovered and reused in good condition reached 350 million. In March this year, the State Post Bureau issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Green and Low-Carbon Development of the Postal and Express Delivery Industry", clearly calling for accelerating the building of a system for the recycling and reuse of mail and express packaging, and for advancing the construction of pilot programs for the large-scale application of recyclable express packaging supported by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Guan Aiguang, deputy director of the Market Regulation Department of the State Post Bureau:

The green governance of express packaging involves many players, a long chain and a wide range of fields. In the process of advancing it, all departments need to work together and accelerate the formation of a situation of joint management; the state needs to introduce more tax and fee incentive and subsidy policies to increase the supply of green express packaging; and local government departments at all levels need to step up their support to resolve difficult and blocking issues such as the high cost, difficult recovery and limited support of recyclable packaging.

Guan Aiguang said that advancing green packaging is a systematic project. At present, with the large-scale promotion and application of green packaging such as electronic waybills, slimmer tape and lightweight boxes, China has basically entered the 2.0 era of packaging reduction. This period requires a shift toward material and technological innovation, such as the development of new materials, new types of packaging containers and intelligent packing systems, so as to coordinate the goal of reduction from the upstream and downstream of the supply chain.

On the other hand, the recyclable packaging market at the end of logistics needs to achieve a technological breakthrough. Promoting and applying recyclable packaging is an important part of the green postal strategy and an important means of exploring the green transformation of packaging.

Guan Aiguang, deputy director of the Market Regulation Department of the State Post Bureau:

By the end of the year, we will achieve a 90% proportion of e-commerce express items that are no longer secondarily packaged, further advance the two special governance campaigns on excessive packaging and plastic pollution, bring mail and express items using recyclable express packaging to 1 billion, and recovered and reused corrugated cartons in good condition to 800 million.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379379.html