The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China recently issued a newly revised national standard for packing materials used in the express delivery industry.

According to the new national standards, express delivery companies should use recycled packing materials to reduce plastic waste.

The waste generated by the ever-growing express delivery industry has become a serious environmental problem in China. According to the report on green packing materials for China's express delivery industry released last year by the State Post Bureau, in 2016 about 3.2 billion woven plastic bags, 6.8 billion plastic bags, 3.7 billion packing boxes and 330 million rolls of plastic tape were consumed by China's express delivery industry. But the recycling of China's packing waste is less than 20 percent at present.

Ten central government departments including the State Post Bureau have jointly issued guidance for the express delivery industry in December, with the aim of increasing the application ratio of biodegradable green packing materials to 50 percent by 2020.

The new national standards for express delivery packing materials will accelerate a "packing revolution" in the express delivery industry, which will help the industry save resources and protect the environment.