The State Post Bureau recently released data showing that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the entire industry will achieve full coverage of electronic waybills and circular transit bags. The number of layers and thickness of packaging boxes and bags will be reduced by more than half, and the width of tape will be reduced by 25%. The proportion of circular packaging used in local express delivery will reach 10%, and more than 800 million paper boxes will be recycled and reused annually. Green and low-carbon is an important task for the express delivery industry to move towards high-quality development. ”Lin Hu, spokesperson for the State Post Bureau and director of the Market Supervision Department, stated that during the "15th Five Year Plan" period, the State Post Bureau will anchor the goal of green and high-quality development, work together to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth. Taking the implementation of the revised "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" as an opportunity, it will accelerate the pace of packaging green transformation, strengthen source control and full chain governance, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of green development in the industry. Green transformation has become a trend in the JD Daxing Asia No.1 Smart Logistics Park located in Beijing, where over 1 billion packages are shipped annually. Due to the large volume of our packages, we need to reduce them from every detail, including packaging material design and big data algorithms. ”Guo Run, an engineer at JD Logistics Green Packaging Laboratory, introduced that they have deconstructed packaging materials to reduce paper usage. In recent years, new technologies for express packaging and new scenarios for recycling and reuse have emerged, and reduced weight packaging such as "slimming" tape and "slimming face" waybills have been widely used. In order to increase the "green content" of packages, Zhongtong Express uses narrow tape for lightweight packaging such as "one line" and "cross" during the packaging process; In the final stage of express delivery, Yunda promotes the use of green recycling boxes for express delivery, guiding franchise outlets and customers to recycle and reuse reusable cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. As of now, Yunda has set up over 20000 express recycling devices in its nationwide branches. The packaging of express delivery has been improved, and the governance efficiency has significantly increased. ”Lin Hu said that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the standardization rate of express packaging will reach 86%, and the intelligent packing algorithm will reduce consumables by nearly 20%. Postal, JD, SF, Yunda and other enterprises will pilot the application of circular packaging in more than 20 cities' fresh cold chain, government documents and other scenarios. The green, reduced and recyclable level of express packaging will continue to improve. The green transformation of express packaging cannot be achieved without the gradual improvement of the top-level design system. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, China promoted the introduction of 3 regulations, 15 standards, and 9 policies that are compatible with the green concept in the postal industry, basically forming an institutional system of "complementary laws and regulations with departmental rules, linkage between national standards and industry standards, and coordination between central and local policies". Especially with the implementation of the revised "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" in June this year, a green and energy-saving express delivery service system has been clearly established, and a special chapter on "express packaging" has been added to govern the entire chain of express packaging from design, production, use, recycling, disposal, etc., providing institutional guarantees for departmental collaboration, regional collaboration, and policy collaboration. ”Lin Hu said that in order to strengthen the guidance of standards and policies, two mandatory national standards, "Limits on Heavy Metals and Specific Substances in Express Packaging" and "Requirements for Restricting Overpackaging of Express Delivery", have been developed. Together with eight departments, policies have been formulated to support the green transformation of express packaging and the green development of the entire industry. Technological innovation adds momentum at Gaoqiao Wholesale Market in Changsha, Hunan Province. Some merchants use a bamboo film bag for packaging, which is more environmentally friendly and practical than ordinary packaging bags. In November of this year, China Post Hunan Provincial Company began implementing the "bamboo instead of plastic" policy. This bamboo film bag made from renewable bamboo not only has high toughness and is not easily damaged during delivery, but also has a cost reduction of 15% compared to traditional plastic express bags. As of now, a total of 20000 bamboo film bags have been released for free, providing services to nearly 500 e-commerce customers and establishing a virtuous cycle of "trial feedback promotion". Cloud warehouse is the core location for manufacturing packages and also the first line of defense for implementing express packaging management. On the 3rd floor of Zhongtong Cloud Warehouse in Tangqi Town, Linping District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, there are more than 10 different specifications of cardboard boxes and packaging bags next to packer Wu Rui. After she scans the code and enters the order information, the system will quickly match the corresponding packaging specifications based on the quantity and size of the goods. The volume ratio of the packaging boxes matched by the system can reach over 90%, which is basically saturated. ”Xu Yonggui, the head of the brand department of Zhongtong Cloud Warehouse Technology Market, told reporters that the current daily average volume of cloud warehouses is between 10000 and 12000 pieces. Through measures such as intelligent algorithms and upgrading consumables, the overall use of consumables has been reduced by about 20%. Lin Hu stated that currently, the postal industry has achieved full chain carbon reduction through technological innovation, model optimization, and green management, working together to promote the four key nodes of collection, transfer, transportation, and delivery. In the collection process, promote the use of biodegradable tape and lightweight packaging to reduce plastic consumption, promote intelligent packing algorithms to reduce packaging box usage, encourage senders to choose simple packaging, and effectively improve resource intensive utilization efficiency; In the transportation process, focus on improving warehousing and transit efficiency, and optimize energy consumption structure through green and intelligent facilities; In the delivery process, we will increase the research and pilot application of unmanned delivery equipment such as drones and unmanned vehicles, establish a packaging recycling system, improve delivery efficiency through intelligent algorithms, and promote end of pipe carbon reduction. In addition, in the transportation process, technologies such as joint distribution and intelligent path planning are used to integrate transportation capacity, reduce empty driving rates, and promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement in multimodal transport. For example, JD.com, SF Express, and China Railway jointly operate the Xi'an Urumqi Silk Road e-commerce train, which regularly transports daily household appliances and other e-commerce materials once a day. "Modern information technologies such as artificial intelligence, mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, blockchain, etc. have reshaped the express delivery operation organization mode and workflow, enhanced the green and low-carbon development momentum, and effectively reduced the logistics costs of the whole society. ”Lin Hu said. The full chain governance is the key link in the source governance of e-commerce packaging that enters the delivery channel. Lin Hu introduced that in recent years, the State Post Bureau has actively promoted postal delivery enterprises to strengthen cooperation with upstream e-commerce. On the one hand, it vigorously promotes original packaging, simple packaging, and integrated packaging to reduce excessive packaging. Currently, postal delivery enterprises basically no longer package e-commerce items; On the other hand, promoting the application of intelligent packing algorithms can reduce the consumption of consumables in a single order packaging by nearly 20%. Entering the original direct shipping warehouse of JD Logistics Hangzhou Asia No.1 Intelligent Logistics Park, the high-rise three-dimensional shelves are filled with original boxes of toilet paper, kitchenware and other products. The proportion of original direct shipments in the warehouse has increased from an average of 25% last year to 40% this year, "said Gao Jiaqi, the person in charge of the logistics park. It is reported that in 2022, JD.com released the industry's first original packaging certification standard, promising to achieve over 80% of products sold through e-commerce channels supporting original direct shipping by 2030. In 2024, original factory direct packaging helped JD.com reduce over 1 billion pieces of secondary packaging. The green governance of express packaging involves multiple links and departmental responsibilities such as production, use, recycling, and disposal. Working together throughout the entire chain is the key to achieving a comprehensive solution. ”Zhu Li, Deputy Director of the Industrial Economics Research Department (Environmental Protection Center) of the Development Research Center of the State Post Office, believes that the revision of the "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" adheres to a problem oriented and systematic approach, clarifies the responsibilities of relevant entities for green governance of express delivery packaging, as well as the responsible entities and supervisory measures for the implementation of mandatory standards, providing a more powerful legal guarantee for promoting the full chain governance of express delivery packaging. The reporter learned that China has successively issued important documents such as the "Opinions on Accelerating the Green Transformation of Express Packaging" around the green transformation of express packaging and the governance of excessive packaging of goods. These documents not only clarify the division of responsibilities of departments in the full chain governance of express packaging, but also clarify the responsibility boundaries of various links such as design and production, e-commerce packaging, packaging reduction, recycling, and collaborative governance from the source. The management of express packaging is a systematic project that must adhere to systematic thinking and problem orientation, promote upstream and downstream collaboration, and implement full chain governance. Lin Hu stated that the State Post Bureau will continue to deepen multi-party collaborative governance, further strengthen departmental linkage, establish and improve mechanisms for information sharing, joint law enforcement, and other work; Further promote industry associations to play a bridging role and encourage enterprises to build green supply chains by linking upstream and downstream. At the same time, further strengthen publicity and guidance, and promote the results of express packaging management to make them perceptible, accessible, and usable to the people. (New Society)