Passion for parcels creating rivers of refuse
Print Edition
SHOP owner Shi Chun wraps a small package in several layers of plastic tape before sending it to the courier.
The baby product seller wants her customers to click the “tightly and nicely packaged” button when reviewing her products on taobao.com, the online shopping mall.
Click and buy, get the delivery and throw away the packaging — convenience trumps all for China’s e-shoppers.
“I never thought about whether the tape and packaging are recycled,” Shi said.
She said she uses 20,000 meters of tape a month.
About 760 million packages were delivered this year for Singles’ Day on November 11.
No country in the world delivers more packages than China.
Last year, about 14 billion were delivered, and most of the packaging — cardboard, foam, plastic bags and other stuffing materials — went into bins.
Based on an average weight of 200 grams, 2.8 million tons of garbage were produced last year. The tape alone could circle the earth 300 times.
“Most of the packaging materials can be recycled, but in reality, very few of them are,” said Chen Jian, a recycling expert in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.
In Xi’an, only 60 percent of the cardboard from packages is recycled. Plastic bags and stuffing materials, which add up to about 350 tons a year end up in landfill sites.
“The waste of resources and environmental burden cannot be ignored,” said Chen, who has spent 20 years working in the recycling business.
A ton of paper pulp can be turned into 0.8 tons of new paper, equal to saving 17 trees, 1.2 tons of coal and 600 kilowatts of electricity, according to Tang Yanju, secretary of the waste paper branch of the China Resource Recycling Association.
Some courier companies offer to collect used packaging, but the volume is limited due to staff shortages.
“We sometimes pick up used packaging from customers, but most of our manpower is used to ensure timely delivery,” said a district manager at Best Express courier company.
Recycling stations also struggle to cope with the volume of unsorted garbage in China. In the past six years in Xi’an, the number of stations has fallen from 1,050 to 600.
Liu Yong, from the Shaanxi provincial Recycled Resource Circulation Industry Association, said: “Sorters are poorly trained, recycling centers are too far from the city, and recyclable materials are easily tainted.”
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