Greener packaging for delivery encouraged

Greener delivery package wrapping is being encouraged as the express delivery industry has boomed and produced more waste, the State Post Bureau said on Friday.

Guan Aiguang, deputy director of the market inspection department of the bureau, said as the country's top leadership pays more attention to environmental protection, it is an opportunity and a challenge for the bureau to promote environmentally friendly ways to handle delivery waste.

From January to September, 56.1 billion packages were delivered in China, a year-on-year increase of 28 percent. In September, 8.1 billion packages were delivered, an increase of 44.6 percent.

The bureau has set a goal of reducing delivery package waste and increasing inspections this year, and so far has achieved positive results, with 94 percent of packages bound with slimmer tape by August.

A total of 68.5 percent of packages ordered from online shops were not wrapped a second time for transportation, while 87.2 percent of packages were carried in recycled bags. In addition, 35,000 stations have been built to collect package waste.

The bureau has promoted the addition of clauses about package waste handling into the Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution Law, and it also required local post bureaus to investigate the adoption of green package wrapping. Delivery industries, including China Post, SF express and JD, have established research and development centers to study greener wrapping.

Ma Qinghui, a veteran courier from STO express, one of China's major express-delivery enterprises, said the company began to provide environmentally friendly wrapping bags in September as a trial.

"It looks no different from the old wrapping bags, but it is made of degradable material and is less polluting to the environment," he said.

He added that the company encourages couriers to use the new wrapping and sometimes conducts random inspections.

"But the new wrapping bag cannot be reused because it is easily torn by tape," he added, hoping stronger bags can be provided.

Ma has been working in the industry for 13 years and witnessed a lot of waste. However, he said more environmental protection measures should be carried out to reduce wrapping, such as providing more recycled wrapping bags.

The bureau has written its plan for environmentally friendly treatment of wrapping into its five-year plan (2021-25) and will continue its efforts to reduce waste generated by delivery services.