Stop over-packaging! New regulations for green packaging in food delivery take effect today.
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Say Goodbye to "Casual Packaging" for Takeout. On September 1st, the nation's first local standard, the "Guidelines for the Use of Green Packaging by Catering Takeout Merchants," officially came into effect in Beijing, ushering in a new era of "slimming down" regulations for takeout packaging. According to the new standard, new steamed buns should be packaged in bags, barbecued food wrapped in aluminum foil, stir-fries and rice bowls packaged with simple seals, and soup noodles and spicy hot pots should rely on sealed packaging to prevent spills. Plastic wrapping film should not be used unless absolutely necessary, and packaging voids should be minimized.
Say Goodbye to "Casual Packaging" for Takeout. On September 1st, the nation's first local standard, the "Guidelines for the Use of Green Packaging by Catering Takeout Merchants," officially came into effect in Beijing, ushering in a new era of "slimming down" regulations for takeout packaging. According to the new standard, new steamed buns should be packaged in bags, barbecued food wrapped in aluminum foil, stir-fries and rice bowls packaged with simple seals, and soup noodles and spicy hot pots should rely on sealed packaging to prevent spills. Plastic wrapping film should not be used unless absolutely necessary, and packaging voids should be minimized.
On platforms like Xiaohongshu, complaints about takeout packaging have been common across the country. Photos shared by netizens frequently show takeout boxes containing only small items. One netizen posted a photo showing an empty round takeout box containing only a boiled egg. Another netizen's similar round takeout box contained only a small pie barely covering the bottom.
A large takeout box containing only one egg. (Image from Xiaohongshu platform) Besides the "waste" of space, the sealing of takeout containers has also been a major headache. Some netizens reported that their takeout containers were wrapped in "a huge roll of cling film." Others said their takeout containers weren't sealed properly; the restaurants wrapped them several times with cling film to prevent spills, but even that didn't create a proper seal. After each takeout order, their hands were covered in soup, and oil from the containers would stain their workstations. Consumers lamented, "Why can't they improve the takeout packaging?"
(Image of takeout wrapped in cling film from Xiaohongshu platform) To achieve the four goals of safety, waste reduction, easy recycling or biodegradability, and reusability, the first national local standard, "Guidelines for the Use of Green Packaging by Catering Takeout Merchants," officially came into effect on September 1st.
What kind of takeout should use simple packaging? What should use sealed packaging? How should ice cream be packaged? How should drinks be packaged? The standard provides recommendations for takeout packaging from multiple dimensions, including waste reduction design, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and organic recycling.
For fully enclosed meals with no broth or broth no more than 1/4 of the container's height, simple packaging can be used. For example, steamed buns and pancakes can be packaged in bags; pizzas and cakes, which need to be protected from deformation and sticking to the inner wall of the packaging, are best packaged in paper boxes. Stir-fries and rice bowls with little broth are best packaged with simple resealable packaging. Grilled meals can be packaged directly in aluminum foil, combined with a resealable bag. Fried cakes, fried light meals, and other high-temperature, high-oil meals with no broth are best packaged in biodegradable materials. Dumplings and sushi can be packaged in compartments.
Sealed packaging is typically used for meals with broth exceeding 1/4 of the container's height, which are prone to spillage. For example, room-temperature or low-temperature meals such as ice jelly, fruit salad, cold skewers, rice noodles, and spicy mixed dishes should not be sealed with plastic wrap unless absolutely necessary. For hot-temperature dishes such as noodle soup, wontons, vermicelli soup, porridge, spicy blood curd, boiled fish, mala tang (spicy hot pot), and maocai (a type of Sichuan hot pot), packaging with specific sealing structures is recommended. Narrow-width stretch wrap may be used sparingly if necessary.
Iced foods such as smoothies should be packaged with ice packs and insulated bags, avoiding the use of plastic stretch wrap for sealing.
Beverages should use appropriate packaging materials based on temperature. Sealing should be done with easily separable sealing paper, and the use of straws should be minimized.
To reduce the amount of takeout packaging, the standard requires "minimizing packaging void ratio." Furthermore, the printed area should be minimized, and functional redundancy should be avoided. Non-woven fabric outer packaging bags should be selected based on season and temperature; they should not be used when insulation is not required. Food delivery businesses are encouraged to guide consumers to reuse takeout packaging in non-food contact ways.
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