During this period, the volume of express delivery surged. According to data from the State Post Bureau, on November 11, 2015, major e-commerce companies generated a total of 460 million express logistics orders throughout the day, and postal and express delivery companies handled a total of 148 million express parcels throughout the day. Where did the large amount of express delivery waste go? The reporter visited Nanjing and found that, except for cardboard boxes, express bags and product packaging bags were basically not recycled and were directly sent to the waste incineration plant.

Online shopping and receiving express delivery have become one of the important lifestyles that are indispensable to modern people. In 2014, the express delivery business volume in my country reached 14 billion pieces, which means that the express packaging produced exceeded 14 billion pieces. In particular, many consumers are worried that the purchased goods will be damaged during transportation. Express packaging is wrapped in layers, with thick paper packaging boxes on the outside and plastic packaging bags and foam on the inside. But from the actual situation, these 14 billion pieces of express packaging have basically become express garbage. A large number of express packaging are disposable. After use, they are thrown away by the recipients and then transported to the garbage dump, or landfill, or incineration. Even if some express packaging boxes are recycled, most of them are only sold to waste collectors. It is unknown whether they can be reused to the maximum extent.

The express delivery waste is thrown away, which not only increases the cleaning burden of sanitation workers, but also causes unnecessary waste of resources and serious pollution. However, this cannot be entirely blamed on the low quality of our recipients. The public has not formed a green living habit in handling express delivery packaging and does not know how to deal with "express delivery waste". The key is that my country currently lacks a set of effective management mechanisms and methods for handling express delivery packaging. Therefore, in order to make express delivery packaging recyclable, the key is to have institutional guarantees.

First of all, e-commerce and express delivery companies should first extend the concept of corporate social responsibility and actively assume the responsibility of recycling or collecting express packaging. It is not realistic to expect buyers to keep and recycle express packaging as treasures. In fact, many express parcel boxes, as long as you pay a little attention when unpacking, just simply tear off the tape, the box as a whole will not be damaged, and can be recycled and reused. In the processing of express packaging, the concept and mechanism should be established that the recipient only collects the express items, and the courier takes away and pulls back the express packaging, so as to avoid the fate of express packaging becoming express garbage and being thrown away. This may increase the time cost of the courier, but the complete express packaging can be provided to consumers for use at a fee, and the express company does not have to pay for it. On the other hand, citizens should establish a sense of reuse. If they do not choose to hand over the express packaging to the courier for recycling, they should actively recycle the express packaging they receive, and not cause waste or become garbage.

Secondly, in the production process of express packaging, the postal, quality inspection, environmental protection and other departments should jointly issue technical standards and normative standards for express packaging, and clearly require that only recyclable and degradable environmentally friendly packaging boxes and bags should be used in a unified manner in terms of materials and structures, and disposable packaging boxes and bags should not be used. This will not only help to increase the reuse rate of express packaging and reduce the amount of discarded express packaging garbage, but also effectively reduce or avoid secondary pollution caused by express packaging that cannot be used or is discarded as garbage.

Low-carbon life is the current fashion and the direction of the future. While enjoying the convenience of online shopping, we should also shoulder social responsibilities and should not and cannot throw away express packaging. We should try our best to turn waste into treasure and embark on a new environmentally friendly path of reuse.