Luxury Zongzi Gift Boxes Trigger Fresh Over-Packaging Concerns

In 2011, gift-boxed zongzi appeared on the shelves at a Carrefour supermarket — and as a latecomer among festive foods, the heavily embellished zongzi is now threatening to outdo its mooncake predecessor.

A reporter's investigation shows the category is travelling ever further upmarket: gift boxes bundled with duck eggs, tea and aged liquor carry price tags of 500–600 yuan, and sometimes more than 1,000 yuan.

Broken down by unit, a single zongzi can sell for several tens of yuan — occasionally more than 100 yuan.

Sellers say the buyers of these luxury boxes include public institutions as well as companies, mostly through group purchases. Experts are calling for end-to-end supervision of where large orders end up.

Gift boxes now come with tea and liquor

A tour of several supermarkets in the capital found that more than 90% of zongzi gift boxes sell for over 100 yuan; typically multi-piece packs, they average several tens of yuan per zongzi.

Such steep pricing rests on “premium” pairings. Jinfeng Chengxiang Bakery's zongzi gift boxes are contract-manufactured by a well-known maker in southern China, and its flavour lists feature prized ingredients such as abalone and snails. Yet for two boxes whose names include abalone, sales staff admitted: “There is no abalone inside — only abalone sauce.”

The priciest zongzi gift box the reporter found on Taobao comes in an antique-style basket design: the first layer holds four zongzi flavours — beef, red bean paste, date, and lily with seafood; the second layer holds five-fortune cakes; the third layer holds a set of ten-year-aged Guyuelongshan liquor.

Priced on the zongzi alone, each one carries a far higher price than an ordinary zongzi. The listing, however, had recorded zero sales. The shopkeeper said the price was probably on the high side, so few shoppers had asked about it.

The fancy outer box has become a white elephant

Many residents say they would not choose luxuriously packaged zongzi unless the box is meant as a gift: “The money all goes on the packaging, not on value.”

Others argue that over-packaged zongzi, like over-packaged mooncakes, amount to plain waste: “The box looks lovely but is of little practical use — once the zongzi are eaten, those pretty boxes are thrown out or sold for scrap.”

Zongzi are far from the only offender. Mooncakes, health products, tea, cosmetics, gift liquor and children's toys are all widely recognised as repeat offenders in over-packaging — a recurring headache for brand owners and the flexible packaging industry alike.

In the toy aisle of a shopping mall, the reporter found that every toy came in a large outer box, while the toy itself filled only about two-thirds of the space.

More packaging brings side effects, and over-packaging has become a major source of waste. “We have a pile of boxes at home — no use keeping them, yet a shame to throw them away,” said Ms Wang. Many consumers feel the same way: these elaborate boxes are little more than white elephants.

Who is actually buying luxury zongzi?

Who is buying these luxury zongzi right now, and what are they bought for? The reporter visited food counters and large supermarkets in the capital ahead of the buying season.

A salesperson at a mall near Xinxing Bridge said luxury zongzi had not yet been moving well, and staff were waiting for big orders. Families of three shopping in the mall and the elderly women who come to cool off would not buy them; most sales are group purchases, paid for by cheque rather than cash.

Such orders are usually placed by the box-load, she said, and the end use is unclear — although casual chat sometimes reveals they are for gifting and staff welfare.

Government bodies are not the only buyers: some enterprises also place group orders, “perhaps to keep on good terms with the relevant departments”. Another salesperson noted that group purchases may come with a discount, but some public institutions do not even ask about it.

Large orders need supervision

Dong Jinshi, executive vice president and secretary-general of the International Food Packaging Association, says over-packaging of zongzi mainly shows up as too many packaging layers, excessive use of materials, luxurious decoration and design, inflated packaging costs, and tied-in sales of other goods.

He urges consumers to buy rationally and resist over-packaged zongzi, and calls for regulations such as the Regulations on Limiting Excessive Packaging of Commodities to be introduced as soon as possible — so that the issue moves beyond standards and publicity campaigns and is written into law.

The reporter learned that a notice on further strengthening municipal solid waste treatment, issued this year by the General Office of the State Council, explicitly proposes restricting the excessive use of packaging materials and exploring a mandatory packaging recovery system.

Yu Xianyang, a well-known sociologist and professor at Renmin University of China, points out that with anything and everything now bundled into zongzi, the practice has become a form of hidden corruption. He recommends full-process supervision of large luxury zongzi orders, to prevent gift boxes from carrying premium foreign liquor, rare herbs, related luxury goods or even cash.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-369980.html