Shopping extravaganza provokes thoughts on green packaging

BEIJING - China is pondering the environmental challenge posed by its heavy use of courier packages, after the Singles' Day 24-hour online shopping spree last Friday.

As online shopping websites register strong sales figures, the prospects for greener packaging materials are not so positive.

Statistics published by the People's Daily reveal that courier services between November 11 and 16 in China were expected to have delivered 1 billion items, representing a 35 percent increase on last year.

The newspaper said that courier businesses in China used over 9.9 billion boxes last year, and the length of the tape used to wrap the packages would circuit the equator 425 times.

However, the newspaper noted that the recycling rate of such packaging materials was still below 20 percent.

"Packaging boxes take up too much space and most get thrown away," Li Minfeng, a local resident in Hangzhou, told the newspaper, adding that most of his neighbors also toss away unwanted boxes.

Packaging materials such as tape, cushions and plastic bags are usually sent to landfills, and the main component of such materials, polyvinyl chloride, may take hundreds of years to degrade. Burning these materials also generates pollutants.

The State Post Bureau said that it is considering addressing the problem through measures including promoting environment-friendly packaging materials and making packaging material recycling mandatory.

Courier service providers are also considering how to address environmental concerns.

Cainiao.com, Alibaba's delivery service platform, said it is now striving to use one hundred percent biodegradable materials as their package fillers by 2020.

However, increased costs and lack of motivation are still key obstacles to a more eco-friendly packaging system.

A courier surnamed Cai told Xinhua that using large volumes of packaging is sometimes unavoidable when shipping delicate items such as porcelain, bronze and fruit. "Our top priority is to ensure the safety of the items," he said.

He admitted that packaging, if not recycled, could pose a severe challenge to the environment.

"My company uses recycled containers for fresh food like meat and milk, but it is hard to incorporate recyclable materials into all of our packaging. It would cost too much," Cai said. "It would also be challenging for us to recycle packaging materials ourselves-- I'm already working as long as 12 hours these days."

A courier for YTO Express pointed out that the recycling industry would help alleviate the environmental pressure caused by courier packages.

Green packaging demands not only efforts of post authorities and courtier companies, but also the participation and support of society as a whole, the People's Daily quoted a State Post Bureau official as saying.

November 11 is known in China as Singles' Day because the date, 11.11, resembles four "bare sticks," a term used in China to refer to single people.

The day started to become associated with commerce when Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant, launched a major promotional campaign centered on Singles' Day in 2009.

The most eye-catching event this year was Alibaba Group's Global Shopping Festival, which generated 120.7 billion Chinese yuan ($17.8 billion) in gross merchandise volume.