Staff load parcels at a logistic center at Maoqiao community in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nov. 14, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua]

China has seen a rapid increase in the use of delivery packaging in recent years with the huge popularity of online shopping.

The 11 November Single's Day shopping frenzy is a case in point. Started in 2009, this year it's estimated that 350 million orders were placed by online shoppers.

However the massive increase in orders every year means ever more packaging, much of it deemed to be unnecessary.

According to the State Post Bureau, nearly 30 billion items of packaging will be produced in 2016, but less than 20% of it will get reused.

"The packaging takes up too much space," says Li Minfeng, an online consumer. "We throw away most of it."

Statistics show that most packaging goes into landfill - including unwanted plastic bags, packaging tape and boxes.

Staff load parcels at a logistic center at Maoqiao community in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nov. 14, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua]

One of the reasons given for the excessive use of packaging for delivery is the rough handling the items get during transportation.

"The delivery people always throw the parcels around," said Chen Hong, a dealer who sells Korean make-up in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. "We have to be generous with packaging."

In order to better protect the products from being damaged, Chen puts a layer of paper foam at the bottom, and then surrounds the products with airbags. Another layer of paper foam goes on top. After that, Chen uses waste paper to fill up the gaps in the box, and to wrap it around five times. All to guarantee the product's safety.

To tackle the problem, China's State Post Bureau has been promoting environmentally friendly packaging since August, 2016. It has called for more training for packaging personnel, and is urging them to use less material.

Some companies are playing their part too. Ji Feng Environmental Protection Tech. Inc., for example, has developed recyclable filler made of cornstarch.

"Green packaging is not just a problem for the industry," said a representative of the State Post Bureau. "It's a general social problem."

"Apart from the efforts of the postal system, it also needs support from all walks of life," he added.