In November, the express delivery industry officially entered its peak business season.
Monitoring data from the State Post Bureau shows that on November 1, a total of 569 million express parcels were received nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 28.54%.
The ensuing express packaging waste has also continued to increase, and many express products still have excessive packaging such as "big box with small box" and "inflatable film stuffed with cartons".
Excessive packaging governance is a common concern of all sectors of society.
The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to it. As early as 2009, the special management of express packaging has been carried out. In April 2021, the State Post Bureau issued the "Special Management Plan for Overpackaging and Random Packaging of Express Mail".
Through the efforts of all parties, the awareness of green development in the industry has gradually increased.
It is worth noting that there is still a certain gap between the effectiveness of green governance of express packaging and the requirements for high-quality development of the industry.
At the same time, with the rapid development of new forms of consumption, the phenomenon of excessive packaging is making a comeback.
The reason is that, on the one hand, the cost of environmental protection materials is too high, so that the relevant measures of delivery companies are often just "testing the water"; on the other hand, the current laws and regulations related to the green governance of express packaging are only regulated in the use of express packaging. The use of environmentally friendly packaging for delivery companies is a recommended standard, and most of them are advocacy and encouragement requirements.
The green governance of express packaging is a systematic project involving the responsibilities of multiple departments and the powers of local governments. It is necessary to strengthen the whole-chain governance from packaging design, production and sales, commodity delivery, and waste recycling.
Relying on one company or one industry alone will have limited effect after all. It is necessary to form a situation of joint management and establish a legal standard system covering the whole chain to support the whole process of governance.
In September this year, the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Control of Excessive Commodity Packaging" issued by the General Office of the State Council clearly stated that it is necessary to gather the strength of 13 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, etc. Excessive packaging of commodities improves people's sense of gain and satisfaction.
It is imperative to speed up the green governance of express packaging.
Relevant departments should promote the revision of the "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" and other relevant regulations, and increase the green governance of express packaging and other related content; according to the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Standardization of Express Green Packaging", accelerate the introduction of relevant mandatory national standards; accelerate the promotion of recyclable express delivery Pilot large-scale application of packaging, explore the formation of a batch of replicable, scalable, sustainable and recyclable express packaging large-scale application models, and promote a substantial increase in the use of recyclable express packaging.
In addition, it is necessary to strengthen and guide consumers' awareness of environmental protection, and appropriately introduce some incentives to improve the recycling and reuse rate of express packaging.
It is by no means the responsibility of one party to promote the greening of express packaging and to prevent the recurrence of excessive packaging.
Only when manufacturers, delivery companies, packaging recycling companies, and consumers work together to fulfill their responsibilities, can express packaging become thinner and greener.
Gillette