Recently, the guidelines on strengthening the standardization of green packaging for express mail (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines) have been jointly issued by 8 departments of the Chinese government, namely, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Post Bureau. The Guidelines make a full-scale deployment for the standardization of green packaging of express mail in China in the next three years.

The Guidelines, mainly focusing on three goals of greening, reduction and recyclability, aim at solving four problems. First, green packaging standard system of express industry will be upgraded in three years, covering such aspects as products, evaluation, management, and safety, and also such procedures as R&D, design, production, application and recycling. Second, the weak links in standards in the key areas will be strengthened, and a number of important standards will be adopted concerning the application of new materials, the connection between the upstream and downstream of the packaging industry and the construction of a recycling system for packaging materials, which will support the source control of packaging materials and improve the efficiency of application of these materials. Third, the effective implementation of the standards will be pushed forward at both the government and market levels. Relevant departments are encouraged to refer to the green packaging standards in the process of policy making, to strengthen coordination among departments, and bring the implementation of standards under the supervision over express mail, e-commerce and other industries. At the same time, e-commerce operators and express enterprises are encouraged to purchase packaging products that meet the green standards. Fourth, the internationalization level of the standards will be raised. International exchanges and cooperation will be strengthened, and China’s successful experiences and practices in express mail packaging will be summarized. China will actively participate in international standardization activities in packaging, environmental management and other fields, promote the establishment of relevant international standards, and share the experience of China.

Supporting measures will be adopted to push the implementation of the Guidelines, including the designing of construction scheme for green packaging standard system for express mail, launching of quick procedures to support the approval and release of the standards, and joint evaluation of the effects of the standards by relevant departments so that the interconnected, coordinated and efficient supervision mechanism for the implementation of the standards can be continuously improved.