Recently, the state has released policy documents including the Special Plan for the Development of National E-Commerce Logistics (2016-2020), the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation and Development of China’s Packaging Industry, and the Guiding Opinions on Coordinating and Promoting Green Packaging in the Express Delivery Industry. These policies have once again prioritized the realization of green logistics on the agenda.
The continuous expansion of logistics scale has promoted the rapid development of the economy. According to data, in 2016, China’s logistics costs accounted for 14.9% of GDP, nearly double that of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany. The volume of express delivery business reached 31.28 billion pieces, with a per capita express delivery usage of nearly 23 pieces—an increase of nearly 8 pieces year-on-year.
To create a favorable atmosphere of "Green Express Delivery, Everyone’s Responsibility", the application of packaging materials has gradually been standardized, laying a foundation for the development of green logistics. It is understood that in express delivery agreements, the usage rate of electronic waybills has exceeded 90%. This not only facilitates the promotion of equipment such as transit boxes and cage trucks but also contributes to the establishment and formation of a packaging management system in the express delivery industry.
In last year’s packaging report on China’s express delivery industry, it is easy to find that the proportion of carton usage remains high, making cartons the most polluting type of packaging material. This is entirely due to the fact that the recycling rate of China’s express packaging has always been less than 20%, resulting in inefficient recycling. This situation has seriously hindered the advancement of green packaging in e-commerce and green logistics.
The packaging of a product must not only consider the safety of the product but also the standardization level of packaging for various types of equipment. If the product does not match the packaging after sorting, it is likely to cause waste of efficiency and labor. The recyclable and shared express packaging launched some time ago has helped save tens of millions of cartons. Shared express boxes have improved the reuse efficiency of logistics from the source of materials, demonstrating that the concept of sharing in the logistics industry is not only applied in logistics parks.
From a professional perspective, the overall green level of the supply chain plays a crucial role in the development of green logistics. Achieving environmental protection and greenization in logistics links requires not only technological upgrading but also the comprehensive strengthening of the formation of scale effects in the new retail era.
Developing green logistics is the only way to achieve sustainable development. It is believed that with the joint efforts of enterprises and the government, the green logistics system will become more sound, and the rapid development of the logistics industry will also strive toward the goal of sound and rapid economic growth.
