Reusable delivery containers put to work in Guangzhou

With the upcoming Single's Day sales carnival around the corner, one of China's many e-commerce giants is taking a more sustainable approach to delivery and packaging waste.

Suning Logistics started using reusable delivery crates in Guangzhou in the beginning of November in a bid to reduce the amount of paper, cardboard and plastic that is wasted on packaging.

Reusable delivery containers costs  25 yuan ($3.8) and can be used more than 1,000 times. [Photo/ycwb.com] 

China's online retail culture is the biggest is in the world, with Single's Day last year taking in more sales in a single day than Brazil does in an entire year, according to Forbes. In the three days after Single's Day last year, hundreds of millions of cardboard boxes, packages and parcels were delivered – a lot of waste.

Suning Logistics reusable delivery crates have been introduced to combat this waste with a business model that is more sustainable and better for the environment.

So far, the containers have mainly been used to deliver electronic, babay and maternity products, said Chen Xiaoyong, spokesperson of Suning Logistics, owner of the containers.

The containers, which cost Suning only 25 yuan ($3.8) to produce and can be used more than 1,000 times, come with a special bar code which can be scanned to identify the products inside and the delivery.

A total of 13 cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing have started to introduce the delivery containers and by 2018, more than 200,000 will be used across China, according to the company.