Recently, at the 3rd China (Hangzhou) International Express Industry Conference held in Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province, Ma Junsheng, director of the State Post Bureau, said that the express delivery business in China will exceed 60 billion pieces in 20 19, leading the world in increment.
However, the explosive growth of express delivery business has also brought a lot of consumption of packaging materials such as cartons, plastic bags, adhesive tapes and foam. Carton recycling, waybill "slimming", big data algorithm optimization packaging, green material research and development ... Some courier companies have accelerated the pace of "green transformation". The industry believes that green express delivery is a long-term project, which requires the joint participation of all sectors of society.
Green action: carton recycling, waybill "slimming" and transit bag "changing"
It has gradually become the habit of many Hangzhou citizens to take out parcels at express delivery stations, unpack them and throw them into green recycling bins. "I am an online shopper. I may place more than a dozen orders online a week. If I take the box home, I will fill my door in three or five days. " Zhang Qing, a female white-collar worker in Hangzhou, said that since there is a recycling box at the express delivery point this year, she will leave it inside for recycling.
In 20 18, "Double 1 1", Cainiao.com laid about 5,000 green recycling boxes in Cainiao post stations in 200 cities across the country, leading consumers to join the ranks of cartons, and recycled more than130,000 cartons offline. In May of this year, Cainiao jointly launched the "Green Express Day" with Shentong, Dayun, Tong Yuan, Zhongtong and Baishi * *, and announced the laying of 50,000 green recycling bins nationwide. At present, 30,000 recycling bins have entered the express terminal outlets all over the country and become "green public welfare at home".
Jiao Zheng, deputy secretary-general of China Express Association, said that the "back-to-box plan" promoted the reduction and greening of express packaging. According to statistics, the green recycling boxes of rookie network and courier companies are expected to recycle hundreds of millions of courier cartons every year, reducing carbon emissions equivalent to planting 740,000 Haloxylon ammodendron trees.
Express waybills are also becoming more and more environmentally friendly. From a thick stack of handwritten five-way bills to electronic waybills and "scaled down" electronic waybills, courier companies have been working hard on express waybills in the past two years, seeking to reduce consumables and improve paper efficiency.
"The cost of the five-way bill is about 0.25 yuan, while the electronic waybill only needs 6 cents; We have an average of 25 million orders issued every day, and every little makes a mickle, which is a great savings. " Xiong Dahai, vice president of Shentong Express, said.
At the same time, the State Post Bureau organized six brand express delivery enterprises, including Shentong, to carry out a pilot project of completely replacing disposable plastic woven bags with recyclable transit bags (boxes); According to preliminary estimates, about 207 million disposable plastic woven bags can be reduced every year.
Technology empowerment: Optimize packaging and develop green materials with big data algorithms.
"Green packaging" is inseparable from technological innovation. At present, the entire express delivery industry is accelerating the application of big data, the research and development of new materials, and using green technology to trigger logistics changes. A number of new technologies and products have emerged in the express delivery industry.
-Big data algorithm optimizes packing. Weighing scale, yoga mats, snacks, dumbbells ... How to correctly package the goods purchased by consumers often puzzles warehouse packers. The rookie packing algorithm solves this problem. Big data and AI algorithm can recommend reasonable carton model and packing scheme, avoid "overqualified" and over-packaging, and reduce the use of materials by 15% on average. In the past year, only the rookie warehouse "slimmed down" 290 million express parcels.
At present, the packing algorithm is still being optimized, such as automatic packing of goods with odor and goods easily contaminated with odor; You can also use the space of the product itself to adapt, such as putting other products into the trash can, which greatly saves the packaging space. According to industry insiders, technologies such as electronic waybill, packing algorithm and intelligent path planning have become the infrastructure of green logistics.
-Research, development and application of green materials. "The development and use of new materials is the idea and way to solve the problem from the source." The person in charge of Best Express said that many courier bags on the market are made of recycled plastic and buried in the soil, which takes hundreds of years to degrade.
In April this year, Best Express launched a "green recycling" program to promote the use of environmentally friendly plant plastic bags on Best website. It is understood that this kind of environmentally-friendly plant plastic bag replaces petroleum-derived plastics with starch from plants, and each environmentally-friendly plastic bag will reduce the plastic consumption by 30%, and the comprehensive cost can be the same as that of ordinary PE express bags.
Hongchun Wang, director of Tonglu County Private Express Development Center, said that green packaging is a key research topic in the express delivery industry, and companies such as Post, SF Express and JD.COM have also set up green packaging laboratories to study the technical improvement of packaging materials.
"Green transformation" still faces some difficulties and needs the participation of the whole society.
Liu Jun, deputy director of the State Post Bureau, said that in 20 19, the State Post Bureau started the "957 1" project, that is, by the end of the year, the utilization rate of electronic waybills reached 95%, more than 50% of e-commerce express mail was not repackaged, and the utilization rate of recycling bags reached 70%. Packaging waste recycling devices were installed at 10000 postal express outlets. The green development of express delivery industry is closely related to everyone's production and life. It is the responsibility of both enterprises and management departments to make the "last mile" of express delivery greener.
A person in charge of the express delivery industry said that "green transformation" still faces some difficulties.
First, the cost of environmental protection packaging is high, and popularization is difficult. Due to the large volume and complex types of express parcels, some environmentally-friendly packaging materials are expensive, and the cost of replacing green packaging by express companies and merchants is higher. For example, the price of adhesive-free cartons and environmentally-friendly courier bags on the market is about 0.5 to 2 times that of 65438+ ordinary cartons and courier bags, and the price of wet kraft paper tape is nearly 5 times that of ordinary tape.
Second, the recovery rate of express packaging is still low. Experts in the industry said that the end of express delivery is the key link of express delivery, but it is the weak link of current express packaging recycling; No matter the number of terminal outlets, infrastructure construction or comprehensive service level, it does not match the rapid development of the industry. It is understood that at present, the overall recovery rate of packaging waste is less than 20%, of which carton recovery is less than half.
Third, relevant laws and regulations need to be further improved. Experts in the industry believe that the current laws and regulations regulating packaging selection, garbage disposal and resource recovery in the express delivery industry are still unclear, and relevant departments should speed up the establishment of a green standard system for the express delivery industry. Xiong Dahai said that only when the relevant parties in the industrial chain work together can the overall greening be realized.
This year's government work report clearly stated that it is necessary to promote green express packaging. Green express has become the "chairman's project" of many express delivery companies. In order to promote green action, an industry green public welfare committee has also been established.
Lai, chairman of ZTO Express, said that industry leaders should take responsibility, not only for economic accounts, but also for environmental accounts. Not only the immediate account, but also the long-term account. Only by being greener and more environmentally friendly can the service quality be improved and enterprises have greater development pattern and influence.