China continues push for greener packaging
With express delivery ubiquitous in China, where almost 175 billion packages were delivered last year, the public and private sectors are taking steps to address the reduction of packaging waste and forge a more sustainable way forward for the rapidly growing industry.
Last year, express deliveries in China reached 174.5 billion, the most for any country in the world for the 11th straight year, and a rise of 21 per cent year-on-year.
According to a report released by the State Post Bureau, in 2022 alone, approximately 9.92 billion packaging boxes and about 55.71 billion feet of tape were consumed in China's express delivery sector.
This staggering volume has raised growing concerns about the environmental impact of packaging waste and excessive material consumption.
The State Council requires express delivery companies to promote greener, reduced and reusable express packaging from 1 June, according to an updated regulation on the industry. The update stresses that eco-friendly, biodegradable and reusable materials are used in express delivery packaging, while avoiding excessive and wasteful packaging.
In recent years, major express delivery companies in China and postal authorities have made efforts to reduce material use, recycle packaging materials and develop degradable materials, however, more action is still needed.
Express delivery companies typically repackage goods using their own branded boxes, however, more recently, some shipments are being made using original boxes to save on excess packaging.
Gao Jiaqi, who is in charge of JDL Express' intelligent logistics park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said direct shipments are becoming more commonplace.
'When goods arrive at our warehouses from the manufacturers, we ship them directly to consumers without any repackaging,' Gao said. JDL is the logistics branch of the e-commerce platform JD.
'Couriers only need to put an express waybill on the original package for goods suitable for direct shipments, such as packed tissues and diapers, and small electronic devices in individual packages,' Gao said.
In total, direct shipment helped JDL reduce over 1 billion repackages last year.
ZTO Express, another major express delivery company in China, has been promoting the same practice. 'Currently, all warehouses prioritise shipping goods in their original packaging from merchants,' said Xu Yonggui, head of the marketing and branding department of ZTO Cloud Warehouse Supply Technology.
Since 2022, nearly 300 of ZTO's warehouses nationwide have used an intelligent system to recommend the most efficient repackaging.
Express delivery companies have also been exploring ways to reduce material usage in packaging.
In 2023, JDL said it cut its use of cardboard boxes from between 5 to 25 per cent by changing their design. Last year, over 860 million of these upgraded boxes were used, reducing 12,164 metric tonnes of carbon emissions, the company said.
Despite more efficient material use, single-use packaging still generates a significant amount of waste. To extend the life cycle of boxes, express delivery companies and postal services have introduced reusable circulation boxes designed for multiple uses.
Reusable plastic boxes are circulating in logistics stations of JDL Express, SF Express and Deppon Express for inter-station transportation, saving single-use packaging.
While the amended regulation puts more emphasis on the responsibility of express companies, the actions of consumers also matter for waste reduction.
To tackle the express packages flooding into its campuses every day, Zhejiang University has operated a package collection program since 2016, serving around 100,000 people.
'Students open their packages and leave the cardboard boxes at the station for reuse,' said Yao Xin, chairman of the logistics group at Zhejiang University. 'In one station, over 200 packages are collected every day, which will later be provided to students for free.'
Last year, over 8.2 million parcels were delivered to Zhejiang University campuses, according to Yao. A further 440,000 parcels were sent out from those campuses.
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