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At midnight on November 12, the transaction volume on Tmall stood at 540.3 billion yuan, and the total amount of orders placed on JD.com exceeded 349.1 billion yuan, breaking the "Double 11" record again. The annual e-commerce feast has driven the prosperity of the express industry.
Data from the State Post Bureau showed that from November 1 to 11, China's postal and express companies handled 4.776 billion pieces of express mail, an increase of more than 20 percent year-on-year and another record high. China's express delivery volume has topped the world for six consecutive years since 2015. But accompanied by the express packaging materials resource consumption and environmental impact of the problem is becoming more and more prominent.
According to the statistics of Express logistics information service platform Express 100, the increase of express packaging waste has accounted for 93% of the increase of household waste in megacities, and 85% to 90% in some large cities. China's express delivery industry generates more than 9 million tons of paper waste and about 1.8 million tons of plastic waste every year. The amount of adhesive tape consumed can wrap thousands of times around the earth each year, and these numbers are still growing rapidly.
In express delivery waste, polypropylene (PP) material made of tape wrapped in cardboard boxes, they have almost no recycling value, nor can be degraded, can only be turned into landfill or incineration, so that the "white pollution" intensified, human living environment is facing a severe challenge.
In January 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution, which clearly stated that non-degradable plastic tapes would be banned in postal and express outlets nationwide by the end of 2025.
A "green revolution" has begun in the field of delivery tape.
At present, the common express tape on the market, its base film mainly uses BOPP film (bidirectional tensile polypropylene film), this film has good physical stability, high mechanical strength, good air tightness, high transparency and gloss, is a widely used packaging film. However, BOPP is a fossil-based plastic that does not degrade completely even after hundreds of years.
In practice, tape recycling is more difficult than other materials. China Post has implemented a tape reduction action plan to reduce the use of hundreds of millions of meters of tape every year. According to estimates, the average amount of adhesive tape used per parcel of express delivery in China is 0.8 meters, and the amount of adhesive tape used in 2020 alone will exceed 66 billion meters. Reducing the amount of adhesive tape used to alleviate "white pollution" is a drop in the bucket.
Guo Baohua, director of the Polymer Institute at Tsinghua University, said that using biodegradable plastics is the best solution for single-use plastics that are not easily recycled. How to realize the degradation of adhesive tape has become an urgent problem to be solved in the industry.
A roll of green tape behind the battle of green materials
Driven by market demand and policy support, more and more Chinese enterprises are engaged in scientific and technological exploration of green material innovation, and new achievements are constantly emerging.
A few days ago, at the first New materials Technology Innovation and Development conference held in Xiamen, the guests received a "special" gift -- environmental protection tape.
A little roll of duct tape with a big story behind it. This tape can be degraded to carbon dioxide and water, it uses a new environmental protection material "Bai Enli", is a high performance film material independently developed by Xiaomen Changsu, a subsidiary of Zhonglun Technology Group, and is the first large-scale production of biodegradable film material BOPLA in China.
Although there are many biodegradable materials on the market at present, the biodegradable film made by blow plastic has disadvantages such as low strength and poor color printing effect, while the water performance of other paper tapes decreases rapidly, which cannot meet the requirements of stringent use scenarios of express tapes.
Bailenli's emergence provides the best of both worlds. Baienli has close to BOPP mechanical properties, printing performance and optical performance is better than BOPP, after surface coating treatment, with BOPP protective film the same matt, waterproof, scratch resistance and other functions.
In addition, Baienli comes from biological base, has reliable biosafety, biodegradability, can reduce energy dependence. Zheng Wei, General manager of Xiamen Changsu, said: "We have been able to significantly increase the specific surface area of PLA (PLA) material through our own innovative two-way stretching process and unique formulation, once again accelerating the degradation rate. Under the condition of industrial composting, Bai Enli can be degraded in eight weeks."
According to Guo baohua, polylactic acid, which is biodegradable and based, can inhibit white pollution while producing very low carbon emissions.
"The carbon emissions of Bainili raw materials are about 70% lower than those of traditional fossil-based plastics such as PP." Zheng added. In addition to adhesive tape, Baienli can also be applied to flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables and other disposable membrane material field and food, electronic products, books, gift boxes, clothing and other flexible packaging functional membrane material field, packaging reduction, environmental protection and carbon reduction is of great significance.
It is worth mentioning that the first new materials science and technology innovation and development conference meeting supplies, such as handbags, business manuals, self-supporting bag tea, mask bags are made of bayi grace li in the domestic first, for the green, low carbon will do do will provides a new solution, but also solve the white pollution provides a new choice for the future.
Baienli is an epitome of green material innovation, reflecting the positive attitude of Chinese enterprises towards carbon neutrality and carbon peak.
Yang Qingjin, chairman of Zhonglun Technology Group, said, "As the cornerstone of the manufacturing industry, new materials can help almost all industries and enterprises fulfill their carbon responsibility with the comprehensive implementation of the dual carbon policy and continuous innovation and breakthrough in green and low-carbon technology."
In fact, more and more industry forces are joining the ranks of green innovation. At the first New Materials Science and Technology Innovation and Development Conference, the Development Research Center of the State Post Bureau, All-China Federation of Environmental Protection, Xia-Tungsten New Energy, CoFCO Bio, Zhejiang Haizheng, OPPO, Glory, Fenoulantai, Donnelly, Laiyifeng and other companies sold their green innovation achievements and experience, and discussed the new path of materials science and technology to enable green development.
Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering Jian high tin believes that all material is the carrier of science and technology, in the process of carbon up to the peak, carbon neutral, on the one hand, bio-based materials, recycled materials will play an important role, on the other hand, in the aerospace, rail transportation, ship, automobile and other fields to achieve plastic instead of steel of high polymer material, will also play a key role on carbon emission reduction.
Under the background of double carbon era, sustainable development has become the only way for all industries. Whether accelerating the construction of ecological civilization or promoting the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure, the new material industry, as the foundation and leader of high-tech, will play a crucial role, and the innovation of new material science and technology will also become a new driving force for the growth of green, low-carbon and circular economy.
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