Receiving the courier, tearing the tape, opening the carton and throwing away the stuffing inside ... This operation must be familiar to many people. But behind this "little thing that we are used to", it is a huge amount of express packaging garbage that is difficult to solve at present. In 20 18, China's express delivery business exceeded 50 billion pieces, and the resulting packaging waste became one of the largest increments of domestic waste. How to implement "green packaging" in express delivery industry, so as to achieve reduction and recycling, has become the "key thing" of urban ecological civilization.
Analysis on the Development Status of Express Industry in China: The reduction of express packaging is under way.
In a rookie station of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, there are three green recycling stations in addition to five groups of intelligent express cabinets. After students get the courier, they can choose to unpack the package on site and throw the packaging box, packaging bag and plastic filler into the recycling bin. Students who send emails to the website can reuse these packages.
According to Ge, the person in charge of the station, the average daily parcel volume of the station is about 3,000 pieces. Through the establishment of recycling system, the secondary utilization rate of on-site packaging now reaches about 40%. According to the rookie network, about 5,000 green recycling boxes have been set up in post offices in 200 cities across the country, which provides a good support for the recycling of express packaging.
The rookie station is just a microcosm. The "greening" of express logistics industry is all over the processes of packaging, distribution and recycling. Taking the electronic face sheets on express parcels as an example, Yang Jun, deputy secretary-general of China Express Association, said: "The original 40% handwritten express face sheets have become the current two-fold electronic face sheets, and the area and quantity of face sheets have been reduced, and the amount of paper used is at least 40% less than the original. At present, the penetration rate of electronic bills in the domestic express delivery industry exceeds 90%. "
Behind the "greening" of express logistics industry is the "besieged city" of express packaging waste that can not be ignored. According to the statistical data of China Express Industry Market Foresight and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report issued by Foresight Industry Research Institute, by the end of 20 18, the total number of express service enterprises in China had reached 507 1 100 million, with a year-on-year increase of 26.6%. The business income of national express service enterprises totaled 603.84 billion yuan, up 2654.38+0.8% year-on-year. By the end of March, 2065438+2009, the business volume of national express service enterprises had reached 4.86 billion pieces, up by 23.3% year-on-year, and the business income had reached 59.6 billion yuan, up by 23% year-on-year.
Cumulatively speaking, from 20 19 to 1-3 months, the business volume of national express service enterprises was completed1210.50 billion pieces, up by 22.5% year-on-year; Business income totaled 654.38+054.3 billion yuan, up 265.438+0.4% year-on-year. Among them, the business volume in the same city totaled 2.36 billion pieces, down 0.2% year-on-year; The business volume in different places totaled 9.5 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%; The international/Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan business volume totaled 290 million pieces, up 8.9% year-on-year.
2018-2019 Statistics and growth of business volume and business income of national express service enterprises in March.
Data source: compiled by Prospective Industry Research Institute.
(Note: the growth rate of business volume in July was 27.3%, and the growth rate of business income in May was 22.2%)
It is estimated that the express delivery business volume will exceed 60 billion pieces in 20 19. Accordingly, excessive packaging and a large number of express packaging waste also followed. According to the data released by the State Post Bureau, the proportion of express packaging waste to domestic waste is increasing in megacities in China, with the former accounting for 93% of the latter's increase and some big cities accounting for 85% to 90%.
Thankfully, with the efforts of all parties in the market, the "green action" in the express delivery industry has become a common practice: China Post has implemented the "Slimming Plan" for adhesive tapes, which will reduce the width of adhesive tapes without affecting the packaging effect of express mail. Suning and other e-commerce platforms promote the recycling of cold chain incubators in the field of fresh food, sign contracts on the spot and recycle them immediately. Many courier companies have reduced the number of packing fillers and replaced small fillers with large gas fillers. ...
Challenge: The overall recovery rate is less than 20%
Although all parties in the market have taken action, "green express" still has a long way to go. Some experts estimate that the overall recovery rate of express packaging in China is less than 20%. The reporter learned that there are still the following difficulties in implementing "green packaging":
1, too much trouble. Since last year, some e-commerce platforms have provided users with "green packaging" options in terms of distribution methods. However, the use of recyclable packaging boxes and instant recycling delivery methods are not popular with packaging and distribution personnel. According to industry sources, on the one hand, "personalized" green packaging will increase the time of packers and affect distribution efficiency; On the other hand, because it needs to be recycled immediately, it will take longer to unpack and pick up the goods. The wages of distributors and packers are linked to the single quantity, so they lack "green" motivation.
Miss Ren, a citizen of Beijing, has encountered such a situation. At the beginning of this year, Miss Ren bought some fresh products on a fresh e-commerce platform. Considering that at home on weekends, there is no need for disposable packaging, she deliberately chose the "environmental protection incubator that needs to be recycled on the spot". The result was a disposable foam box delivered to her door the next day. She suspects that the green packaging of some e-commerce companies is just "making a show".
2, the price is expensive. Niu Zhijing, the head of the rookie green action, said that the market price of non-adhesive cartons and environmentally-friendly express bags is about 0.5 to 2 times that of ordinary cartons and express bags, and the price of degradable tapes is 5 times that of ordinary tapes. According to some calculations, if all 50 billion express parcels in China are green, the increased cost may reach10 billion yuan.
Yi Zhu, president of ZTO Express Research Institute, said that low-cost green consumables are very important to promote green packaging. "The profit of the express delivery industry is already very thin."
3. It is difficult to work together. The difficulty of green packaging for express delivery is not only the cost, but also that it is a systematic project, which needs the joint efforts of many parties to play an effective role.
Some courier companies also said: "70% of the packages are packaged by merchants or consumers themselves." "The courier company is just a transshipment delivery system, and we can't limit what kind of courier packaging consumers or businesses use. Disassembling the recycling cycle of express packaging also requires multi-sectoral cooperation. "
Outlook: Introduce mandatory standards in due course.
In order to promote the greening and reduction of express packaging, the central and local governments have issued many policy documents.
In 20 17, the State Post Bureau and other departments jointly issued "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Green Packaging in Express Industry". 20 18 The newly revised series of national standards for express packaging products was released, and greening is an important content. At the beginning of 20 19, the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Domestic Waste Management clearly stated: "Formulate the green packaging standard of express delivery industry in this city to promote the reduction and recycling of express delivery packaging."
At present, it seems that the relevant standards of green express delivery are mainly recommended standards, not mandatory standards. This is mostly related to the low maturity of green packaging, the weak cost tolerance of related enterprises and the difficulty of management.
Tang Yanju, deputy secretary-general of China Renewable Resources Recycling Association, said that in view of the problems such as the cost increase caused by green packaging materials and the recycling of low-value plastics by express garbage, whether there is market failure, whether the government needs moderate intervention and how to intervene, it is necessary to conduct a cost analysis of the whole chain. "I hope to start relevant research as soon as possible and carry out the calculation of basic data."
Some insiders also said that when conditions are ripe, we can introduce mandatory standards for green packaging, realize the combination of community recycling, third-party enterprise recycling and e-commerce logistics enterprise recycling, and form a complete express packaging recycling system.