Singles’ Day: Record-breaking sales focus new attention on packaging waste as almost 4 billion parcels are shipped
- It is estimated that 20 per cent of the packages delivered this year in China are plastic
- Environmentalists are questioning if recycling efforts are enough to offset the surge in online shopping
But as more and more people flock to online shopping because of its convenience, new questions are being raised about the amount of packaging waste and pollution generated as a result.
“After the short dip in package volumes during the peak of the pandemic, China’s delivery sector resumed rapid growth midyear with annual package volume expected to surpass 70 billion,” said Tang Damin, Beijing-based plastics campaigner with Greenpeace East Asia. “If there is no fundamental change in the express packaging model, the total amount of packaging waste could increase significantly from last year.”
China’s postal and express delivery companies shipped around 3.96 billion packages during the Singles’ Day period, which ran from November 1 to 11, taking the number of packages shipped in China so far this year beyond 70 billion, according to a statement by the State Post Bureau, China’s delivery service regulator, on Tuesday.
The bureau estimated that around 80 billion packages will be delivered by the end of this year, at least a 25 per cent increase over the 63.52 billion packages shipped in China during the whole of 2019.
And although China’s leading e-commerce players have been improving their recycling efforts, it is estimated that 20 per cent of the packages delivered this year are plastic, said Zhang Deyuan, deputy director of an institute under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, in a recent interview with state media China Youth Daily.