China pushes for green packaging and recycling

China's State Post Bureau has co-initiated a campaign to promote green packaging in 6 universities across the country, calling for the use of harmless, disposable and recyclable packages.

The move is part of a broader campaign in China to push for green packaging, as well as recycling, in the country's delivery industry.

According to a new report released by China's State Post Bureau, 2016 saw the delivery of around 31.3 billion packages, generating revenue of some 400 billion yuan, which is equivalent to the total GDP of Hainan province through the past year.

However, the huge profits also generate massive waste and pollution.

It's estimated waste generated through package deliveries accounts for one-third of the daily garbage generated in Longjiang County in northern China's Heilongjiang province.

It's been suggested that although most of the plastic bags used in packages are one-off and disposable, the adhesive tape is still made of polyvinyl-chloride, which takes around 100 years to degrade.

Figures estimate some 17 billion meters worth of tape was used in China's package delivery industry through 2015.

That's enough to wrap around the equator 425 times.

The same analysis suggests recycling rates for delivery packages across China is less than 10%.

China's government has issued a set of policies to promote the green development of the delivery industry, with a goal of eliminating packages made up of harmful and toxic materials and establishing a complete package recycling system by 2020.

However, industry observers say this may be difficult to accomplish, as the policies and standards are not mandatory, and most delivery companies are still using harmful but cheap packaging materials to reduce costs.

Sustainable packaging rules have been put in-place in other countries.

Germany adopted several laws and regulations in the 1990s, requiring the delivery industry to recycle its packaging.

In the UK, the use of excessive packing materials is strictly restricted.

France currently boasts the largest number of new energy vehicles for package deliveries.

In an attempt to keep up, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is working with vehicle makers to develop more electronic freight vans.

JD.com's first fleet of green freight vans hit the roads in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu in June, 2016.