Reusable boxes produce 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than disposable boxes
“There is sufficient demand for reusable delivery boxes among small and medium-sized distributors”
(Seoul = Newsis) Reporter Kwon Chang-hoe = On the 8th, about 10 days before Chuseok, Chuseok gift boxes were piled up in the lobby on the first floor of the National Assembly Members’ Hall in Yeouido, Seoul. 2024.09.05. (email protected)
(Sejong = Newsis) Reporter Seongso = Starting next year, the Ministry of Environment will support the introduction of reusable delivery boxes by small and medium-sized distributors.
According to data received from the Ministry of Environment by the office of Park Hong-bae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and a member of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, on the 13th, the Ministry of Environment newly allocated 1.378 billion won in the 2025 budget plan (government plan) submitted to the National Assembly as a budget for ‘supporting the formation of a market for reusable parcels.’
This is a project that provides reusable delivery boxes to distributors and provides government support for a portion of the delivery box collection and cleaning costs to rental companies (logistics companies) that handle the collection and cleaning. It was launched to encourage distributors to replace disposable delivery boxes they use when packaging and shipping items with ‘reusable’ boxes.
Currently, only large-scale distributors such as Coupang, Market Kurly, SSG.COM, and Hello Nature use their own reusable refrigerated delivery boxes, while the majority of other small and medium-sized distributors use disposable boxes. This is because the cost of using reusable delivery boxes is higher.
Looking at the costs of disposable and reusable delivery boxes calculated by the Ministry of Environment, the ice pack cost (500 won), packaging cost (600 won), and delivery cost (2,000 won) are the same for both disposable and reusable delivery boxes, but when reusable boxes are used, additional costs are incurred for collection (1,800 won), cleaning (84 won), and resupply (34 won).
However, the delivery box cost for a reusable box (822 won) that can be reused multiple times is lower than that for a disposable box (1,400 won).
In summary, if distributors who used disposable delivery boxes switch to reusable ones, they will incur an additional expense of 1,340 won per box. The Ministry of Environment plans to support rental companies by covering this amount.
However, excluding Coupang, Market Kurly, SSG.COM, and Hello Nature, which are independently operating reusable boxes, the plan is to encourage distribution primarily among small and medium-sized distributors such as Pulmuone, Rankingdak.com, Team Fresh, and Cold Plate.
It has been reported that no distributor has yet clearly expressed its intention to introduce reusable delivery boxes. The Ministry of Environment said that once the project is confirmed, it plans to start a full-scale public offering next year to select a company.
According to the Ministry of Environment, 2 million tons of disposable transport packaging waste is generated annually. This amounts to approximately 3.63 billion ramen boxes.
In particular, as the online shopping market grew, the amount of disposable delivery box waste increased 2.6 times in nine years, from 1.4 billion in 2012 to 3.63 billion in 2021.
If the introduction of reusable delivery boxes is activated, not only waste generation but also greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced.
Reusable boxes are known to emit about 75% less greenhouse gases and produce 99% less waste than disposable boxes.
According to the analysis results of the pilot project for reusable delivery boxes conducted by the Ministry of Environment from 2021 to 2022, the greenhouse gas emissions of reusable delivery boxes were 213gCO2 per use, which is 74.5% lower than that of disposable delivery boxes (835.1gCO2e per use).
The amount of waste generated was also 4.3g per reusable delivery box, which was 99.3% less than the disposable box (610g per box).
However, distributors are reluctant to introduce reusable boxes because they are not economically viable and there is no way to increase the recovery rate.
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Waste Association in 2022 targeting 2,402 users, only 34.8% of respondents agreed that product prices would increase due to the use of reusable delivery boxes.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment said that it would standardize the specifications of reusable delivery boxes and promote a full-scale distribution project starting this year, but progress is sluggish. It has been reported that the momentum for the project has been lost as the related budget has been completely cut from the Ministry of Environment’s budget plan.
Instead, the Ministry of Environment plans to revitalize the reusable delivery market by supporting the costs of collection, cleaning, and resupply for rental companies that rent reusable delivery boxes to distributors.
An official from the Ministry of Environment said, “When we conducted the pilot project, we determined that there was sufficient demand from small and medium-sized distributors for the introduction of reusable delivery boxes,” and “We plan to promote the use of reusable delivery boxes through this project.”
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Source: www.newsis.com
