With the development of express delivery and e-commerce. Big platforms like Amazon, Taobao, Alibaba and JD use cardboards as packaging to protect goods during transportation. Therefore, the demand for cardboards is increasing year by year. The fiber used to make paper packaging comes from paper for recycling due to the fact that they are easy to recycle than it is to make. But the fiber used for papermaking is no longer suitable for production after multiple loops of recycling, So virgin fibers from trees are needed to continue the cycle. Due to the limited living space, cardboards used in delivery cannot be stacked in the house for a long time. If they are directly thrown into unclassified dustbins, they will end up in the landfill, while in fact a large number of them can be recycled and reused.
China is the top consumer of paper and cardboard products in the world. 675 million packages were delivered on the single day of the Alibaba Shopping Festival in 2019. At present, the recycling rate of cardboard in the United States is more than 90%. However, due to imperfect recycling standards and high impurity content, the local recycling rate of paper packaging in China is less than 50%. 43.5% of the cardboard produced in China relies on the import of waste paper, especially from Japan and the United States. However, after the prohibition of solid waste import, the domestic recycled cardboard is far from enough to meet the demand. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the domestic recycling rate. Through my project, I hope to improve people’s awareness of environmental protection and promote the recycling of express cardboards in China.
Reference list
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