The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and e-commerce retailers on Monday launched an environmentally friendly packaging campaign aimed at reducing about 1,700 tonnes of packaging materials used each year to dispatch products sold online.
At a news conference in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping district, the EPA announced the launch and awarded participation certificates to 12 major online shopping companies.
“I hope that through our joint efforts, we can contribute to environmental protection efforts without sacrificing the convenience brought to us by the Internet age,” EPA Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) said.
Photo: CNA
Chang thanked the 12 online retailers for voluntarily cooperating with the government, as there is no law regulating the packaging of merchandise.
He also encouraged consumers to buy from retailers that have received the EPA’s participation seal.
As online shopping has become a way of life, more than 80 million packaging boxes or bags, including foam and other protective materials, are used every year by online retailers, Chang said.
In Taiwan, only about 60 percent of packaging materials are recycled, with the rest incinerated, which is a problem for the environment, he added.
The project is to be implemented in three stages, the EPA said.
First, online retailers are to limit the weight of packaging materials to less than 10 percent of the total weight of the merchandise, while the packing tape to be applied to the package should not exceed 2.5 times the box’s length and height. These objectives are to be achieved by the end of this year.
The second stage is to use boxes made of recyclable materials, limit the printed area to 50 percent of the box and shun polyvinyl chloride materials. This is to be accomplished before the end of next year.
Third, online retailers would have to use reusable boxes in 10 percent of their deliveries, with a fulfillment target at the end of 2022.
The EPA estimated that the 12 companies sell 42 million items annually, which translates to the use of 17,000 tonnes of packaging materials.
Through the project, about 1,700 tonnes of packaging materials could be reduced in a year, it said.
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