The State Post Bureau of China has taken several measures to push green and recyclable express delivery, after it was proposed by members of China's top political advisory body last year, Xinhua reported on Feb. 24.

Last year, the bureau released provisional regulations on the green development of the express delivery industry, encouraging green packaging among other moves, said Yin Xunguo, a representative of the State Post Bureau.

This year, the bureau will step up the building of an assessment system to better implement regulations to make the industry more environmentally friendly.

It has made and revised a series of national standards regarding materials used in packaging, as well as industry standards on the use of electronic freight notes and adhesive tape.

Yin said that to build a green express delivery industry, enterprises must fully play their role as the dominant force of innovation. He noted that a joint green platform should be developed by enterprises, universities, and research institutes.

The State Post Bureau has involved six companies in the pilot project of sustainable intermediary packages and selected five companies to carry out 12 projects including environmentally-friendly packaging, cohesive tapes, and recycling in eight provinces and cities.

He said the bureau would encourage delivery companies to apply for special funding for energy conservation, emission reduction and technological upgrades, and will support companies that do well in green packaging research and application.

Post bureaus at all levels have improved the recycling of packages by launching recovery facilities and packaging retrieval by couriers.

With these efforts, authorities aim to achieve a utilization rate of electronic freight notes of 95 percent and a utilization rate of recyclable intermediary packaging of 70 percent. It also expects to launch recycling facilities at 10,000 delivery service outlets across the country.