On November 17, 2018, at the "Double Eleven" temporary pick-up point on a university campus, the staff of the courier company were sorting express parcels. Vision china data map
With the arrival of the "internet plus" era, China’s e-commerce industry is booming, and there are more and more online and offline marketing models such as omni-channel and new retail. The corresponding logistics express industry has also developed rapidly. However, many new problems have followed, among which environmental problems are particularly prominent. As one of the main forces of online shopping, college students have naturally become a huge consumer group in the logistics industry, and the environmental impact caused by express packaging on university campuses is very obvious. Around the campus express delivery collection point, you can see the trash cans filled with express packages and the express garbage scattered around the trash cans. The express garbage piles up like mountains, which not only affects the school scenery, but sometimes even the packaging such as cartons is scattered on the ground, which affects people’s normal traffic. The accumulation of express garbage makes the school have to spend some money to hire cleaning workers to deal with these garbage regularly, which increases the extra expenses of the school and wastes human resources.
Most of the existing express packaging has the phenomenon of over-packaging. Sometimes a small object has to be packaged in two or three layers, and the packaging volume is several times larger than itself, resulting in a serious waste of resources. In addition to over-packaging, there are also toxic packaging and other unreasonable packaging, which makes it difficult for express packaging to be effectively recycled and utilized.
Based on the existing research, taking Nanjing Forestry University as an example, this paper analyzes the influence of express packaging in colleges and universities and the difficulties in recycling, and puts forward corresponding solutions.
Investigation on the packaging of express delivery in university campus
1. Investigation and analysis of packaging quantity
Taking some college students in Nanjing Forestry University as the survey objects, through the questionnaire survey, we can find that the number of express packages produced by the school every week is a huge number. These express packaging wastes mainly come from online shopping and other related behaviors of college students. The research team conducted a questionnaire survey on the weekly express collection of college students. Among them, only 5.9% of people received 0 pieces of express every week, 44.1% received 1-2 pieces of express every week, 38.2% received 3-5 pieces of express every week, and 11.8% received more than 5 pieces of express every week. It can be seen that up to 94.1% of college students receive at least one courier every week, and each courier will at least produce one or more packaging wastes. On average, one courier will produce at least two packaging wastes. Therefore, with so many express delivery, there are countless express packaging wastes, and the treatment of these packaging wastes has become a huge problem.
Through the analysis of the survey data, we can make a rough estimate of the number of express packages produced by the school. There are about 30,000 full-time college students in Xinzhuang Campus of Nanjing Forestry University. It is estimated that more than 90,000 pieces of express delivery can be received every week, and the amount of express packaging waste generated exceeds 180,000. Such a large number of express packaging, if there is no reasonable way to deal with them, will inevitably cause a lot of waste of resources and environmental pollution and other related problems.
2. Investigation and analysis of packaging materials
According to the results of the questionnaire survey, the current express packaging is mainly divided into outer packaging and inner packaging, in which the outer packaging is mainly composed of paper bags, waterproof bags, corrugated boxes, wooden boxes, etc., and the inner packaging is mainly filled with foam, plastic films, plastic bags, newspapers, etc. From the overall packaging materials of express delivery, corrugated boxes, paper bags, plastic bags and other materials are the main materials. Corrugated paper boxes are the most frequently used packaging materials, with the utilization rate reaching 82.4%, followed by paper bags and plastic materials reaching 76.5% and 55.9% respectively, and a small amount of other materials are used.
Corrugated box is one of the most common packaging materials for express delivery. Its main disposal method is still to discard it at will, and only a small part of it is recycled or reused. Although corrugated boxes, as paper products, will not cause much harm to the direct environment, this low utilization rate still causes huge waste of resources, and reproduction of corrugated boxes needed by the market may indirectly cause problems such as tree felling and water pollution. Paper bags and plastics are also the main materials for express packaging. The recovery rate of these two materials is lower than that of corrugated boxes, and they are often disposed of directly in the trash can. Although paper bags have a certain recycling value, they are usually not recycled because of their fragmentary and low use value, and only a small part of them are reused. Plastic bags and plastic films have lower recycling value and will hardly be recycled. Discarding these materials at will is not only a waste of resources, but also directly pollutes the environment.
3. Analysis of the whereabouts of packaging materials
The main process of express delivery circulation is controlled by the logistics company. First, ordinary users or e-commerce companies simply package the items that need to be sent, fill in the correct information and give them to the logistics company. Then the logistics company carries out strict packaging and labeling through the packaging system, and the boxes are sent out by means of transportation, and then arrive at the collection point of the recipient’s city through various transfer stations, and finally the recipient gets the express mail. In the transportation process of logistics companies, because logistics companies are afraid of damaging customers’ goods, especially some fragile goods, they have to choose to pack them layer by layer, so that these goods seem to be well protected, so as to gain the trust of customers and let more people choose them. Even though they know that some resources will be wasted in this process, they will still do so for the sake of credibility.
Express packaging is not fixed by a factory or company. These packages are just cartons, woven bags and plastic packages purchased by senders or express delivery companies, which are spliced by adhesive tapes, and are finally spliced into a complete package. In the splicing process, excessive packaging and waste of resources are bound to occur. Therefore, if the packaging has fixed packaging for fixed categories of goods or a fixed packaging manufacturer, the waste generated in the splicing process will be restrained to some extent.
In addition to the emergence of packaging, the destination of express packaging is also our concern. In colleges and universities, for students with strong environmental awareness, they will carefully classify the express garbage when disassembling the express delivery, and collect large cartons as trash cans for secondary use, or send them to the express packaging recycling point for secondary use. For students who are not so strong but have a little awareness of environmental protection, they will sort out the outer packaging after disassembling the received express delivery and throw it directly into the trash can. Some students who are not strong in environmental protection will directly disassemble the express delivery violently and throw it into the trash can. What’s more, they will directly throw away the outer packaging of the express delivery, which is one of the reasons why we have seen a mountain of express packaging.
In addition to colleges and universities, there are many ways to deal with packaging materials in society. The most common way is to pile them up and bury them. For some harmful things, professional departments do harmless treatment, and then bury them. Some departments burn some combustible materials to generate electricity to achieve resource utilization. The most environmentally friendly method is to classify and recycle the complete packaging materials. At present, Tmall has done a good job. There are many packaging boxes in the market for Tmall Express.
Difficulties in implementing classified recycling in campus
1. Campus express has a large quantity and many kinds.
The Xinzhuang main campus of Nanjing Forestry University covers an area of 1,257 mu, which produces a large amount of express packaging garbage every day. In the Double Eleven Shopping Festival in 2018 alone, taking a dormitory building that can accommodate 600 students as an example, about 500 express packaging wastes are generated every day. There are many materials for express packaging, such as plastic, paper, foam, tape, etc. As for the school office building, teachers will also generate a lot of express packaging wastes. The most recyclable express packaging materials are mainly express cartons and foam boxes, but some plastic bags that are not damaged and deformed can still be reused. However, the "one-throw" phenomenon caused by people’s habitual direct discarding without splitting and discarding makes it difficult for cleaners to recycle.
2. There are a large number of students on campus and their awareness is thin.
There are 29,046 full-time students in Xinzhuang Campus of Nanjing Forestry University, including more than 3,000 doctoral and master students and foreign students. Students generally do not have a comprehensive understanding of the energy crisis, and their awareness of recovery and recycling is also very lacking. According to the survey data, "one-throw" has almost become a common phenomenon. During the survey, almost all the students interviewed expressed their support for the classified recycling of express packaging. The reason for "one-throw" is the lack of classification concept and insufficient understanding of packaging materials.
For garbage classification, it is a long-term habit, and the most important thing is the formation of people’s long-term consciousness. Many developed countries have incorporated the standard of garbage recycling into the legal system, and set up corresponding punishment mechanisms for acts that are not classified and recycled, so citizens in developed countries have already cultivated corresponding awareness about garbage recycling. However, China has not established a corresponding legal system for the unreasonable dumping of garbage, and people who pollute the environment have become an opportunity. Therefore, in order to improve people’s awareness of environmental protection, we should first incorporate environmental protection into the citizen’s evaluation system, so that people can truly understand the important relationship between environmental protection behavior and themselves, and then they can really take action subjectively.
The investigation team randomly selected 100 residential students in Nanlin, and made a simple investigation on their collection, handling and recycling awareness of express delivery.
3. The garbage disposal department has a heavy workload and lacks supervision.
In order to ensure a clean and comfortable campus environment, the school has handed over all other areas except the office, classroom and student dormitory to the cleaning aunt. Although most teachers and students support garbage sorting and recycling, there is no corresponding equipment on campus, only traditional garbage bins. For campus cleaning staff, although they will carry out simple classification before garbage disposal, they are only classified as recyclable and non-recyclable substances. Sometimes, there will be problems such as untimely treatment, mutual pollution between garbage and campus environmental sanitation.
Suggestions on the handling methods of campus express packaging
Judging from the pattern of logistics platforms in China since 2013, platformization will become the mainstream trend. The integration of logistics packaging processing, that is, similar to logistics transportation service, when the consumer gets the express delivery, the system records the background of the express delivery package accordingly, and whether the consumer delivered the package to the designated classified recycling bin in the process of unpacking the package, and the intelligent garbage bin scans the code to read the QR code on the package, thus determining whether the logistics package has been classified and recycled. This intelligent and integrated method can effectively supervise and manage citizens’ daily environmental protection behavior, and also make great contributions to cultivating social environmental awareness. Not only the express packaging in the campus, but also the classified treatment of all garbage should be paid attention to. Since it is difficult to carry out classified recycling of garbage in the campus, it is necessary to give corresponding countermeasures.
1. Promote waste sorting and recycling.
Schools should take garbage classification as a priority, set up corresponding departments in charge, and entrust the task of garbage classification and recycling to the departments in charge for concrete implementation, and the schools should make overall supervision and management. For example, each dormitory building should formulate corresponding garbage containers that can be classified, which can not only facilitate the delivery of garbage, but also play a certain supporting role in the work of cleaning staff; Secondly, for harmful waste, we can recycle harmful waste in a class-by-class way. It is necessary to make campus garbage "daily clear", so as to reduce the secondary pollution of garbage to the campus environment.
2. Provide express service for recycling waste materials on campus.
In view of the difficult problem of express packaging recycling on campus at present, the owner of the packaging can’t independently carry out the sorting and recycling work, and can provide third-party recycling services, such as on-site active recycling. This has the advantage of saving the trouble of rummaging through the chaotic trash can, sorting while recycling, and saving the work of material sorting in the later stage. Or provide paid recycling service, let students take the initiative to collect express packages and classify them, recycle them at fixed points and give them some material rewards, which greatly utilizes the labor of many students and stimulates the enthusiasm of classification.
3. Improve teachers’ and students’ awareness of garbage sorting and recycling.
If garbage sorting and recycling is compared to a computer system, then the comprehensive promotion and implementation of sorting and recycling is the hardware configuration of the system, while it belongs to the software configuration for people’s weak awareness of environmental protection and lack of energy crisis. Teachers, students and staff at school are not only the makers of garbage, but also the victims. They should step forward and become the managers of garbage pollution. They can effectively control garbage pollution by guiding people to classify garbage.
Schools should incorporate garbage sorting and recycling into the comprehensive evaluation of quality education, change teachers’ and students’ awareness of health habits through education, and truly integrate garbage sorting into people’s daily life, becoming an inseparable part of life. Garbage is actually a misplaced resource. Carrying out classified recycling of campus garbage can not only solve the public hazard of garbage, but also have significance beyond the event itself. For a student, a family and even a society, it is the source of social progress to continuously improve citizens’ awareness and call on citizens to actively participate.
Conclusion and enlightenment
As far as Nanjing Forestry University is concerned, the root of the influence of express packaging lies in the lack of strict management mode and the lack of environmental awareness of students. The waste of express packaging produced by student groups is relatively large, with complex and diverse components, which has certain pollution, resource and sociality. The student groups have little awareness of this. If the packaging is not handled properly in time, on the one hand, these wastes will occupy a lot of land, pollute the environment, affect environmental sanitation and waste resources, and the most direct impact on college students is the destruction of campus environment. On the other hand, the seemingly simple packaging material of the current express package may contain many useful substances, which can be regarded as a kind of resource. If the useful substances can be recycled, it can not only effectively solve the problem of resource shortage, but also effectively reduce the waste discharge.
As far as the social environment of China is concerned, in the development of information technology industry and intelligent logistics industry in the future, the materials of express packaging may not only be simple paper and plastic, but also more green materials will be produced to solve the problem of resource utilization in the logistics environment, and the processing methods of logistics packaging are diversified. No matter which intelligent processing method is adopted, it is still necessary to develop the awareness of long-term environmental protection in parallel, and the quality level of the whole society will be adjusted by consciousness, and more theoretical packaging processing methods will be practiced in the future. Express packaging should not only become the focus of attention of students and the government, but also become the intangible responsibility of China university students or citizens of the whole society to properly handle express packaging waste.
(The authors Cai Lingjun, Wang Xinyi, Qi Mingyang and Gao Peng are undergraduates of Nanjing Forestry University, and Wang Hong is an associate professor of School of Economics and Management of Nanjing Forestry University. This article is an innovative training project of Nanjing Forestry University. The article was first published in the fifth issue of E-commerce in 2019, and was published by The Paper with the authorization of the author.)
