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Alibaba Leads Push to Cut Packaging Waste in China
Last year, data from China’s State Post Bureau showed 31.3 billion parcels were sent in the country.
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Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has established a non-profit foundation in Beijing to promote a reduction in package waste in China.
The foundation will work to reduce package waste stemming from the nation’s growing e-commerce business. In China, the bulk of these cardboard boxes are ending up in landfills.
The new foundation will spend $43.45 million to research and promote environmentally-friendly practices throughout the logistics supply chain.
The South China Morning Post has more:
The foundation is jointly being launched by Cainiao Network, together with six Chinese logistics companies – YTO Express, ZTO Express, STO Express, Yunda Express, Best Logistics and TK Express – as well as the Alibaba Foundation and the China Environmental Protection Foundation (CEPF).
Last year, data from China’s State Post Bureau showed 31.3 billion parcels were sent in the country, over a 50 per cent increase from the year before.
In 2015, 7.5 billion plastic bags, 10 billion cardboard boxes, and 17 billion metres of wrapping tape were used for shipping parcels, according to data from the Chinese Institute of Graphic Communication. Cardboard boxes used for parcels are often sealed with wrapping tape, making it difficult and costly to sort and recycle.
Such packing materials can take hundreds of years to break down, and will produce toxic fumes if incinerated.
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