Legislation on Excessive Product Packaging Good for Tea Packaging Market

[ppzhan abstract]

Recently, the "Several Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on the Reduction of Commodity Packaging (Draft)" submitted to the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress for deliberation clearly stipulates that in the future, if a seller sells commodities that are excessively packaged, it may face a fine of up to 100,000 yuan. Starting with stricter control of the sales link, this will force manufacturers to stop over-packaging their commodities. This policy is good news for the tea packaging market: when over-packaged tea cannot be sold, or when it brings a 100,000 yuan fine, it is the seller who ends up losing out, which can effectively curb excessive tea packaging.

Recently, the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress deliberated the "Several Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on the Reduction of Commodity Packaging (Draft)", which stipulates that Shanghai encourages enterprises to package commodities simply, provided that commodity safety and hygiene are ensured. Where consumers return packaging to the seller when purchasing commodities, the seller shall accept it, and so on.

The draft specifies the obligations of producers and sellers in reducing commodity packaging. These include: when packaging commodities, producers and sellers must not violate the mandatory provisions of the national standards restricting excessive packaging of commodities. Sellers shall clearly agree with commodity suppliers that commodity packaging must comply with the mandatory provisions, and shall check the packaging of commodities during incoming inspection and acceptance; where necessary, they may require the supplier to provide a commodity packaging test report. If the commodity packaging violates the mandatory provisions, or the supplier refuses to provide a commodity packaging test report, the seller may refuse to take delivery in accordance with the contract. Commodities that violate the mandatory provisions must not be sold.

The draft also stipulates that Shanghai advocates that producers and sellers clearly indicate information such as packaging recycling and packaging costs on the outer packaging of commodities. Where the public finds that commodity packaging violates the mandatory provisions, they may ask the seller to stop selling and report it to the quality and technical supervision department.

The term "excessive packaging" has been appearing with increasing frequency in recent years. For commodities such as tea, mooncakes, zongzi and alcoholic drinks, we often hear critical reports in the media. One of the best-known cases this year was the sky-high "zongzi scandal" of the Palace Museum: a box of zongzi "supervised and made" by the Palace Museum was actually sold for 1,880 yuan, which truly caused a public outcry.

In fact, excessive packaging of commodities is an old topic. The national standard "Requirements for Restricting Excessive Packaging of Commodities — Food and Cosmetics", implemented from April 1, 2010, already stated very clearly that the sales packaging of food and cosmetics shall have no more than 3 layers, the packaging void ratio shall not exceed 60%, and the total cost of all packaging other than the primary packaging shall not exceed 20% of the commodity's selling price. Yet two years later today, the enforcement of this "national standard" is still being questioned, and in the market the "excessive packaging" of tea and other commodities continues as before.

Almost all tea companies that engage in excessive packaging try hard to highlight their corporate image and to endow the packaging with some cultural symbol, which in itself is understandable. What I have noticed, however, is that such "packaging" often has nothing to do with the tea products being sold, and departs from the original attributes of tea products.

I have seen many strange and bizarre tea packaging materials — plastic, metal, solid wood, porcelain. These packages are all very bulky, seemingly imposing with layer after layer, yet the tea inside is so little that the packaging threatens to overshadow the contents; some tea packaging uses overly thick padding materials, providing more protection than is needed, which not only wastes raw materials but also pollutes the environment, running counter to a "low-carbon life". What is more, in order to raise the overall price of the goods, some tea merchants even include gifts worth several times or even dozens of times the value of the tea inside the packaging, which is truly deplorable.

Appropriate tea packaging with novel designs should be encouraged, but when packaging becomes "excessive" and descends into "", it is unacceptable. Tea is bought to be drunk; as long as the tea itself is genuine and worth the price, why should a few ounces of tea need large packaging to prop up its "appearance"? So here I applaud the "Several Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on the Reduction of Commodity Packaging". Excessive packaging wastes resources, pollutes the environment, and also fosters a culture of comparisons and extravagance. I hope those tea company bosses who like "excessive packaging" will adapt to a green, low-carbon life as soon as possible, establish the concept of "appropriate packaging" early, and make their own efforts to build a conservation-minded society. Otherwise, when over-packaged tea cannot be sold, or brings a 100,000 yuan fine, it is they themselves who will lose out.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362046.html