Online shopping is booming, and there are so many packaging boxes. Waste collectors must be making a fortune – that's what many people must be thinking right now.

　　“Making a fortune? There's a lot of it, but the price has dropped.” Master Chen, who runs a waste recycling station in Beijing's Baiziwan community, says that compared to two years ago, the recycling price of cardboard boxes has dropped by almost half. All things considered, it's not as profitable as before.

　　“It's also frustrating.” Master Chen says that many boxes that could be directly reused are treated as waste and sold, resulting in excessive waste. “It's not environmentally friendly, it's harming future generations.”

　　Buyers are also uneasy about packaging waste. Xia Wei, a student in Chengdu, is a seasoned online shopper, browsing Taobao almost every day. Xia Wei places great importance on other customers' reviews of the store. “If I see comments praising the seller's careful packaging, I'll give them extra points.” However, seeing the increasing number of cardboard boxes around her, Xia Wei also hopes to find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of them.

　　Jiang Jinsheng, who sells teaching materials on Taobao, usually uses cardboard boxes to deliver books. He admits that he often over-packages them: first carefully wrapping them in paper, then tightly wrapping them with tape, and finally placing them in reinforced cardboard boxes before handing them over to the courier company. In his opinion, positive and negative reviews on Taobao have a huge impact on a seller's business. If the books are damaged during delivery, causing scratches or damage, let alone the cost of returning the books, the cascading losses caused by a negative review are often unbearable for sellers.

　　Can sellers recycle and reuse cardboard boxes to reduce waste? “A small cardboard box costs 0.5 or 1 yuan, and larger ones are less than 2 yuan, which is far less than the express delivery fee of more than ten yuan. I don't need to add extra burden to buyers. If we want to recycle, only the logistics department can do it reliably.” Jiang Jinsheng said.

　　In response to the waste of cardboard resources, Yhd recently launched the “1 Together for Environmental Protection · Cardboard Recycling” activity. If buyers return the cardboard boxes after receiving the goods, they can get 50 points for each box. Points can be used to exchange goods, participate in raffles, or exchange discount coupons. The plan currently covers nearly 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, in Yhd's self-delivery areas. According to Liu Hongbin, vice president of Yhd, couriers will actively inform customers about the cardboard recycling activity during home delivery, and the cardboard recycling rate reached 15% in the first week after launch.

　　Jin Min, associate professor at the School of Environment, Renmin University of China, said that the reuse rate of recycled paper products is relatively high, but this does not mean that we can waste cardboard boxes at will, especially the problem of excessive packaging should be given high importance, because the loss of paper caused by this waste is completely unnecessary. “Of course, excessive packaging itself is a market problem, and it is not easy to solve it solely with administrative measures. What goods need cardboard boxes, which do not, and which cardboard boxes can be replaced by other methods, are all worth exploring.”

　　Jin Min believes that a government-led recycling system, combined with increased consumer environmental awareness, can significantly improve the efficiency of cardboard recycling. Taking Japan, which has the best waste sorting system, as an example, the Japanese not only sort garbage into categories such as paper, plastic, and metal, but also further refine it. Paper alone includes various subcategories such as newspapers and magazines, cardboard, and boxes. Consumers collect the waste paper from their household consumption according to these subcategories, and the municipal government will collect them at each household's doorstep at a fixed time each month. Consumers only need to bring the cardboard boxes to the door or downstairs on the specified day. This recycling method, which involves cooperation between the government and residents, can ensure that waste cardboard boxes are recycled to the maximum extent.

　　Jin Min thinks the Yhd cardboard recycling activity is very meaningful: “This is a manifestation of the company fulfilling its social responsibilities, and it is worth emulating for the entire online shopping and logistics industry.” Jin Min believes that through the method of exchanging cardboard for points, consumers have found a convenient and environmentally friendly approach, and enterprises can also reduce costs through the recycling of cardboard boxes. For the government, it also reduces the cost of implementing relevant policies. All parties in society benefit mutually, avoiding resource waste.

　　“Overall, cardboard recycling is still a huge system involving municipal departments, online shopping operators, the logistics industry, and consumers. To make cardboard recycling truly effective, there is still a long way to go.” Jin Min said.