China urges green transition for courier sector as e-commerce boom leaves a trail of packaging waste

Beijing aims to establish a standard system for green packaging by the end of 2025, and ban the use of toxic and harmful materials

China’s express delivery industry consumes more than 9 million tons of paper and about 1.8 million tons of plastic each year

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Workers prepare packages for delivery ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival at a logistics center in Nanjing, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province on November 10, 2023. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:32pm, 19 Dec 2023Updated: 4:45pm, 19 Dec 2023

China’s decarbonisation campaign has its cross hairs trained on the country’s mountain of discarded courier packaging material as the volume of parcels delivered hits a record high while Beijing is scrambling to meet its ambitious climate goals.

The country aims to establish a standard system for green courier packaging by the end of 2025, and ban the use of toxic and harmful materials, according to a joint action plan unveiled by the central economic planner National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), State Post Bureau, and six other state authorities.

China’s express delivery industry consumes more than 9 million tons of paper and about 1.8 million tons of plastic on average each year, according to data released by the eight state departments in 2020.

China, the world’s biggest generator of plastic waste, kicked off a five-year plan in 2020, setting ambitious targets including banning the production and sale of non-biodegradable plastic bags, free disposable plastic products at hotels and plastic packaging used by courier deliveries nationwide by 2025.

This photo taken on November 12, 2023 shows workers sorting packages for delivery after the Singles' Day shopping festival at a logistics centre in Hengyang, in China’s central Hunan province. Photo: AFP

Some of China’s leading online shopping and logistics companies, including Alibaba Group Holding’s logistics arm Cainiao, JD.com, and SF Express, have also taken action to reduce and replace plastics and other packaging wastes, by experimenting with recycling packaging materials and reusable delivery boxes. E-commerce giants and delivery service companies must take the lead in reducing excessive packaging on their own platforms, and promoting recyclable courier packaging, according to the action plan which has set a deadline of end-2025 by when at least 10 per cent of the same-city delivery parcels should use recyclable packaging.

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