Innovative research and development, the whole process of ＂green＂ express packaging ＂slimming＂ is going on

CCTV News:As the major e-commerce platforms start mid-year promotion activities, since June, nearly 400 million express parcels have flowed across the country every day. However, in the interview, the reporter found that the big box is covered with small boxes, and the box is filled with plastic foam, and the goods … … There are still many such phenomena of over-packaging of express delivery.

CCTV reporter Tang Ying:These parcels are all goods I bought from different e-commerce platforms. Let’s take a look at their packaging. Let’s take a look at what’s in this big package. When we open the package, we first see a foam film, which has two layers. There are bought tea leaves in it. We measured the length of the two films, the short one is 105 cm and the long one is 165 cm. In fact, let’s try it. This short film can wrap the tea leaves, and it can also play a role in ensuring the safety during transportation.

The reporter calculated that the size of these removed packages is almost five times that of the purchased goods. Because many of them can’t be reused, they can only be sent to the garbage collection station, which has become the "main force" of domestic garbage.

General Station reporter Chen Qingbin:In the recycling station in this community, we see that the largest amount of recycling in the site is this kind of carton. These cartons have been sorted and arranged, in addition to some foam boxes and plastic articles like this. All the recycled items in this site will be recycled by recyclers every day.

　　　　　　 The staff told reporters that there are currently about 200 sites like this in Tianjin, and the daily processing and recycling volume is about 5 tons, of which express packaging waste accounts for about 80%.

Innovative research and development of green packaging to break through the technical cost difficulties

At present, China’s express delivery industry has an average daily business volume of 350 million pieces and nearly 700 million daily service users, ranking first in the world for many years. It is not only urgent to properly solve the problem of over-packaging of express delivery, but also the inherent requirement of industry transformation and upgrading and sustainable development. The key to "slimming" express packaging is to start from the source and work hard on packaging design. So, what about the research and development of recyclable green packaging? What is the difficulty of R&D and promotion? With this question, the reporter came to China Post Green Packaging Innovation Laboratory.

CCTV reporter Tang Ying:This is the research and development site of China Post Green Packaging Innovation Laboratory. The packaging prototype behind me is making samples according to the design drawings of the researchers.

Gao Kang, packaging engineer of China Post Green Packaging Laboratory:After the box is glued, it will undergo some physical tests such as falling, vibration and impact, which can meet the safety verification of the contents in real scenes. If it doesn’t meet the standard, we will consider making some adjustments from the paper it uses to increase the grammage of the paper, then we will make a material selection of the paper, then redraw the drawing, repeat this action, and then test it until it meets our requirements.

In addition to cartons, various items often used in express delivery, such as bubble film and adhesive tape, will be tested for many rounds. R&D personnel said that it is the focus and difficulty of R&D to wrap the tape frequently.

Kang Li, Technical Director of China Post Green Packaging Laboratory:Compared with the traditional ordinary adhesive tape, it may not be as strong as the traditional adhesive tape, reaching a level of 50%, and its cost has increased by nearly two times.

In order to solve this problem, Kang Li and his colleagues conducted numerous tensile tests and observed the curves in real time. After nearly two years of continuous efforts, a new type of biodegradable environmental protection adhesive tape was finally launched this year. When garbage is recycled, the adhesive tape can not be separated from the carton, and under suitable conditions, the adhesive tape can be directly degraded into water and carbon dioxide.

In the green packaging innovation laboratory, the reporter found that many recycling boxes that have been developed for a long time are rarely seen and used in daily life.

Kang Li, Technical Director of China Post Green Packaging Laboratory:The scene it uses is relatively fixed at present. It (needs) to be able to sign in person and take back the box. If this (if) is put in the self-reporting cabinet, it is difficult for the courier to recycle it. As a courier company, its loss rate is also relatively high, so we need to build an intelligent management system step by step now.

　　　　　　 Kang Li told reporters that at present, the usage of recycling bags in China’s postal enterprises has reached 96%. However, compared with the business volume of postal enterprises and the whole industry, there is still much room for improvement in the usage and recycling times of recycling packaging at the end of express logistics.

Express delivery enterprises explore and promote the "greening" of the whole process

Express packaging should not only ensure the safety of goods, but also avoid waste. How to find a balance between the two? In the investigation, the reporter found that more and more express logistics enterprises attach importance to and think about this issue, and promote the "greening" of the whole process in various ways to "slim down and reduce the burden" for express packaging.

At a courier outlet in Yiwu, Zhejiang, the reporter saw that the green delivery block was specially divided. Consumers can accumulate the number of express packages they bring and exchange them for delivery fees between different cities. In the transportation link, express delivery companies have replaced the former 9.6-meter van with a high-capacity trailer with a length of 15 to 17 meters, which can reduce the pollutant emissions per unit express by more than 70%. Following the transport vehicle, the reporter saw the green smart environmental protection bag in the sorting center.

Zhu Zhongchen, Deputy Manager, Personnel Integrated Management Group, Yiwu Center, Zhejiang, ZTO Express:This package is now recycled more than 110 times, and a chip is inserted at the same time, so that it can be automatically sorted in this system. Through the popularization and application of E-mail, we can reduce the pollutant discharge of paper by more than 60% in the later transit link. Basically, we have achieved a recycling of everything now, which actually creates a closed loop, which truly reflects a core green environmental protection value.

　　　　　　 In the postal processing center in Guizhou, the reporter saw that many e-commerce products began to use a green circulating clearing box. Compared with traditional cartons, this box no longer needs tape sealing, and the box comes with a lock, just sticking a self-adhesive address sheet.

The proportion of no secondary packaging is expected to reach 90% by the end of this year.

As a big country of express delivery, the management of over-packaging of express delivery has always been a common concern of all walks of life. As early as 2009, China carried out special treatment of express packaging. In April 2021, the State Post Bureau issued the "Special Treatment Plan for Overpackaging and Random Packaging of Mail Express". After many efforts, the green development awareness of the express delivery industry has gradually increased. The relevant person in charge said that by the end of this year, we will strive to achieve 90% of e-commerce express mail no longer being repackaged.

According to the latest data of the State Post Bureau, according to the parcel spot check in May, 380 million pieces of mail express with recyclable packaging were used, and 350 million corrugated boxes with good quality were recycled. In March this year, the State Post Bureau issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Green and Low-carbon Development of Postal Express Industry", which clearly stated that it is necessary to speed up the construction of a recycling system for mail express packaging and promote the construction of a pilot project for the large-scale application of recyclable express packaging supported by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Guan Aiguang, Deputy Director of Market Supervision Department of State Post Bureau:The green management of express packaging involves many subjects, long chain and wide fields. In the process of promotion, all departments need to work together to accelerate the formation of a situation of joint management; It is necessary for the state to introduce more preferential tax and fee subsidy policies and increase the supply of green packaging for express delivery; It is necessary for local government departments at all levels to increase support and solve the difficult problems such as high cost of recyclable packaging, difficult recycling and less support.

Guan Aiguang said that the promotion of green packaging is a systematic project. At present, with the wide application of green packaging such as electronic waybill, slimming tape and lightweight box, China has basically entered the 2.0 era of packaging reduction. In this period, it is necessary to turn to material and technological innovation, such as the development of new materials, new packaging containers, intelligent packaging systems, etc., to achieve the goal of collaborative reduction from the upstream and downstream of the supply chain.

On the other hand, the recycling packaging market at the end of logistics should achieve a technical breakthrough. Popularizing and applying recycling packaging is an important part of green postal strategy and an important means to explore the green transformation of packaging.

Guan Aiguang, Deputy Director of Market Supervision Department of State Post Bureau:By the end of the year, the proportion of e-commerce express mail will not be repackaged to 90%, and the two special treatments of over-packaging and plastic pollution will be further promoted. One billion pieces of mail express mail will be packaged by recyclable express delivery, and 800 million corrugated boxes with good quality will be recycled.