“Packaging Ripoffs” Spark Debate: Cutting Over-Packaging Means Lightweight Design and Circular Recovery

A meal that could fit in one takeout container is split into two; a modest cup of coffee is wrapped as if it were a shoebox; a 13-yuan milk tea comes with a 4-yuan packaging charge... The “packaging ripoff” phenomenon has become a hot topic online and has drawn attention from consumers and the media. The Shanghai Consumer Council responded that consumers should have the right to be informed about and to choose packaging fees, and that food-delivery merchants must not shift their operating costs onto consumers by charging packaging fees without transparency.

Yet the issue goes beyond inflated fees. Overuse of takeout containers also intensifies plastic-waste management challenges, creating pollution and waste. Only when society adopts a consumption culture of moderation, simplicity, low carbon and green civilization can over-packaged products genuinely be “slimmed down.”

Over-Packaging: Treat the Symptoms—and the Root Causes

The state has long attached great importance to over-packaging and has continued to take firm action and carry out serious rectification.

In recent years, the State Administration for Market Regulation has issued standards and regulations to set boundaries for packaging. On September 2, 2021, the mandatory national standard “Requirements for Restricting Excessive Packaging of Commodities — Food and Cosmetics” was released. On August 15, 2022, Amendment No. 1 to the standard was issued, adding detailed requirements for mooncakes and zongzi in areas such as packaging layers, packaging costs and mixed packaging, with strong practicality and enforceability.

In addition, the State Administration for Market Regulation has organized multiple special campaigns against over-packaging. Through a series of measures, it has worked to curb the disorder, foster a green, low-carbon packaging and moderate-consumption environment, and advance packaging-resource conservation and environmental protection.

Media commentator Mei Jianfei argues that over-packaging is not a new issue, and that remedies must address root causes, not only surface symptoms. Only when society builds a new consumption culture of moderation, simplicity, low carbon and green civilization can over-packaged goods be “slimmed down.” Only by truly discarding the desire to save face and show off can layer upon layer of wrapping be removed—and only then can over-packaging loopholes be closed at the source.

Xu Hongtao, manager of a tea brand store in Beijing, shares a similar view: over-packaging is tied to social culture in traditional Chinese thinking. “For gift-giving, wanting face, giving face, being grand and being meticulous are all reasons behind over-packaging in some products,” he says. “Changing mindsets is key. Governance must start with that change.”

Corporate Action Reflects Responsibility

Moving from extensive development to an intensive circular economy is a major challenge for the express-packaging sector, and express companies must play an important role. When companies recover used boxes, some can be reused directly, while others can be processed centrally to reduce costs.

JD Logistics launched a carton-recycling program in 2016, covering JD express stations nationwide. Its circular-packaging operations rely on an integrated forward-and-reverse logistics system to collect and recycle packaging: after face-to-face delivery, couriers bring cartons back to stations, and reverse-route vehicles return them to warehouses for reuse. To implement the “9218” project, JD Logistics promotes factory-direct packaging and platform incentives that guide upstream brands toward green packaging transformation at the source, with factory and express packaging designed as an integrated structure. It also uses big data and algorithms to optimize packaging selection and resizing and to recommend consumables intelligently, improving space utilization and avoiding over-packaging. In addition, it develops new materials such as paper-based alternatives and reusable express bags to replace traditional single-use plastics, runs C-end circular-packaging sharing pilots, and encourages couriers to collect cartons for reuse.

Duan Yanjian, project leader of JD Logistics’ Green Stream Initiative, told a Modern Logistics News reporter that JD Logistics will introduce standardized reusable boxes and a shared-recycling model, build end-of-line recycling infrastructure to solve the empty-box recovery challenge, and use a third-party circular-packaging service platform to collect and centrally allocate resources for rapid packaging turnover.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China Post Group Co., Ltd. (China Post) fully launched its green initiative, implementing three major projects—green packaging, green transport and green finance—and six demonstration actions including green e-commerce and green buildings, while continuously improving its green development system. Since the start of this year, China Post has released the “14th Five-Year Plan for Green Postal Development,” calling for advancing the industry’s key “9218” project, deepening two special governance efforts on over-packaging and plastic pollution, reaching 100 million mail and express items using recyclable packaging nationwide, and recovering and reusing 80 million corrugated cartons nationwide.

Since the start of this year, the Shijiazhuang Branch of China Post Group Co., Ltd. (Shijiazhuang Post) has handled an average of 580,000 express items per day, up 9.3% year on year. Green express packaging has delivered environmental benefits while continuing to advance reduction and recyclability, bringing both quantitative and qualitative improvements to the postal enterprise’s performance.

Discussing circular express packaging in Shijiazhuang, the head of Shijiazhuang Post told a Modern Logistics News reporter: “In 2022, Shijiazhuang Post recovered and reused 1.0624 million corrugated cartons in total. All 298 postal outlets (including agencies) and 36 collection-and-delivery stations across the city are equipped with express-packaging waste recycling devices. We have strengthened poster and video publicity at outlets and called on 3,000 social sites to join carton-recycling awareness activities.”

He said Shijiazhuang Post will further promote green transformation of express packaging and transport and advance green finance and green low-carbon development. By the end of 2023, more than 75% of the city’s packaging bags and plastic tape are to be degradable; by the end of 2024, the city aims to fully achieve a plastics ban.

A Century-Long Mission: Green Packaging Remains a Long Journey

For companies collecting express cartons, the practical question is how to achieve reverse flow of packaging. Express-packaging recyclables are numerous and scattered, making collection difficult, while outlet-based collection is relatively easier. Customers often tear off packaging right after pickup, and outlet staff publicity makes them fairly willing to join carton-recycling efforts. However, collecting cartons after courier delivery and at social sites is harder: citing privacy or economic returns, most customers and site operators are unwilling to hand cartons directly to express companies for recycling.

In greening express packaging, material choice is another critical link. Today, cushioning materials are mostly cartons and foam plastics, which are low-cost and highly resistant. As outer packaging, cartons can raise recycling willingness by improving manufacturing processes and increasing costs. But compared with high-value products such as ceramics, glass and electronic devices, cushioning materials like foam plastics are too cheap to use; to reduce damage, merchants often double up on cushioning to increase packaging safety.

Lu Fude, associate professor at the School of Packaging and Materials Engineering at Hunan University of Technology, said: “Greening packaging materials is a long and arduous task. First, we need to promote and implement standardization across the packaging industry, finding reasonable packaging methods for goods of different specifications and prices. Merchants must also take responsibility for their products, improve product strength and support reduction-oriented express packaging design. Second, research remains a major responsibility: we must consider the issue systematically from mechanics, materials science and other disciplines, and find a balance between packaging safety and green development.”

Lu also addressed degradable materials: “Whether existing degradable materials are truly pollution-free remains debatable. They still cause some environmental harm during decomposition, and decomposition takes time. Finding a material that produces no pollution from production through decomposition still requires tireless efforts from researchers.”

—This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379366.html