Green express delivery from packaging management to the whole process

　　Source: State Post Bureau

　　Core reading

　　By the end of September, the proportion of e-commerce express mail in China was no longer more than 90%, and the number of mail express mail with recyclable packaging exceeded 800 million. The green management of express packaging in China achieved initial results, and the express delivery industry accelerated the pace of green and low-carbon development.

　　Since March this year, the monthly business volume of China’s express delivery industry has reached 10 billion pieces, of which the growth rate of business volume in the second and third quarters has maintained double digits. While the market scale is steadily expanding, the mission of green and low-carbon development in the industry is even more arduous. At present, how effective is the green management of express packaging in China? Next, how can the express delivery industry better go green?

　　The green management of express packaging has achieved initial results.

　　Near "double 11", packages are delivered frequently in Shigatse, Tibet. In ZTO Express outlets, each store has a recycling bin, and many unpacked express boxes are neatly placed among them.

　　"At first, we would advise customers to unpack their bags on the spot and put them in the recycling bin. Later, everyone gradually got used to this way of picking up." Zuo Xiaofeng, the person in charge of Shigatse outlets in ZTO Express, said that at present, 22 terminal outlets in the region have used recycling boxes, and the recycled express boxes are basically intact, with high secondary utilization rate.

　　Identity encryption, code scanning and unpacking … … In September this year, Yunda Express first launched a recyclable smart document bag. "This file bag is not only waterproof, fireproof and dirt-proof, but also can be reused many times, without using tape, saving consumables and being more environmentally friendly." Zhou Baigen, executive vice president of Yunda Express, said that this kind of file bag has been popularized and applied in many cities across the country.

　　Thousands of express parcels have brought increasing express packaging, and recycling has become a key measure for green management of express packaging. "From the perspective of materials, express waste packaging is divided into paper and plastic. Among them, more than 90% of paper packaging wastes such as envelopes and boxes can be recycled through social recycling, network recycling and post recycling." Lin Hu, deputy director of the Market Supervision Department of the State Post Bureau, said.

　　Through the joint efforts of the whole industry, the green management of express packaging in China has achieved initial results. By the end of September, the proportion of e-commerce express mail in China was no longer over 90%, over 800 million pieces of mail express mail were recycled, 127,000 postal express outlets were equipped with standard packaging waste recycling devices, and over 600 million corrugated boxes with good recycling quality were recycled.

　　Green packaging, both recyclable and "subtraction". In May this year, the State Post Bureau organized a nationwide random inspection of package data. The data shows that the standard rate of mail express packaging exceeds 75%, especially in reduction. In terms of orders, the use of electronic waybills in the whole industry has basically achieved full coverage; In terms of packaging, the number of layers of corrugated paper in the packing box was reduced from 5 to 3, with a reduction of 40%; The width of the adhesive tape is reduced from 60mm to below 45mm, with a reduction of 25%. In the use of materials, the packaging of heavy metals and solvent residues exceeding the standard has been effectively curbed. Lin Hu introduced that by the end of September, a total of 132 enterprises had obtained 158 green product certification certificates for express packaging.

　　Green development concept accelerates the integration into the whole process of express delivery industry development.

　　Promoting the green and low-carbon development of express delivery industry as a whole, packaging green governance is only one of them. "At present, the industry’s eco-environmental protection work has shifted from green management of express packaging to ‘ Double carbon ’ Work-oriented, comprehensive green development and shift period to help high-quality development. " Lin Hu said.

　　Looking at infrastructure construction, rooftop photovoltaics are constantly emerging. Since the beginning of this year, major express delivery companies have increased investment in renewable energy and infrastructure construction, and promoted the green transformation of logistics parks while improving transit efficiency. Up to now, SF has built photovoltaic power stations in 12 logistics parks, including Yiwu, Zhejiang, Hefei, Anhui and Quanzhou, Fujian. In the first nine months of this year, the renewable energy generated more than 15 million kWh, and the emission reduction exceeded 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. JD.COM has completed the construction of 23 distributed photovoltaic power plants in Asia No.1 Park, with a total installed capacity of 132.5 MW.

　　Looking at the investment in transportation equipment, new energy and clean energy vehicles are more popular. According to the data of "Carbon Emission of Express Industry in China", in 2022, the carbon emission of the express industry in China was 34.91 million tons, accounting for 62.7%. Promoting carbon reduction in the express delivery industry requires deep emission reduction in the transportation sector. In February this year, the State Post Bureau and other eight departments issued a notice stating that by 2025, the proportion of new energy vehicles in new and updated vehicles in pilot areas such as postal express delivery will strive to reach 80%. "At present, major brand delivery companies have widely used new energy and clean energy vehicles, and continue to promote the transformation and upgrading of transportation modes through various measures such as increasing investment scale, strengthening energy consumption monitoring and optimizing transportation routes." Lin Hu said.

　　Look at low-carbon technological innovation, and accelerate the promotion of new smart devices. Jingdong Logistics normally operates intelligent express vehicles in several cities, and SF UAV realizes real-time logistics in the same city & HELIP; … In recent years, major express delivery companies have innovated terminal delivery methods, accelerated the popularization and application of new intelligent facilities and equipment such as drones, unmanned vehicles, unmanned warehouses and intelligent letter boxes, and reduced carbon emissions while improving transportation efficiency.

　　It still takes a long time to promote the green and low-carbon development of the industry as a whole

　　"Compared with the requirements of high-quality development, the green development of express delivery still has shortcomings in terms of systematicness, synergy and effectiveness." Lin Hu said, firstly, the upstream and downstream coordination and the whole chain governance mechanism have not yet been established; secondly, the situation of joint management by the central and local governments has not yet formed; thirdly, the research on the carbon emission accounting system matching the development of the industry is still in its infancy.

　　Take the green management of express packaging as an example. At present, recyclable express packaging is entering the stage of large-scale application, but compared with the increasing express business, the use of recyclable packaging accounts for less overall. "The high cost of packaging and the difficulty in recycling at the end are the main reasons." According to the analysis of experts in the industry, taking the recyclable packing box as an example, the procurement cost is 15 to 20 times that of the same specification carton, and the average single-use cost is greatly increased compared with the ordinary carton when the operating costs such as recycling, cleaning, loss and allocation are superimposed. At the same time, some consumers have not yet established the consumption habit of using recycling express packaging, and it is common that they don’t understand and cooperate with recycling packaging, so it is difficult to form large-scale use and recycling.

　　Lin Hu said that the next step will be to promote the green and low-carbon development of the express delivery industry from three aspects: strengthening the whole process support, promoting the whole chain governance and strengthening multi-link supervision, and gradually build a new path of high-quality development with government-led, social supervision and industry self-discipline.