The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and the phenomenon of "excessive packaging of commodities" has caught people's attention again and has become the focus of criticism. Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCDGF) recently “witnessed” a “classic” case of an excessive-packaged zongzi (rice dumpling) box set: A box of six zongzi - three layers on the inside and three layers on the outside, with sachets, hand towels, etc., the level of complexity is astonishing.

In a materialistic society, the phenomenon of "excessive packaging" is not uncommon, from alcohol to cosmetics, to moon cakes and zongzi during traditional festivals. The truth is that everyone knows: This causes a lot of waste of resources and endangers the increasingly severe ecological environment and species and human habitats. At the same time, endangering tight resources runs counter to the theme of building a conservation-minded society advocated by domestic and international.

Dr. Zhou Jinfeng urged that we must take concrete actions to oppose excessive packaging and protect biodiversity, because the protection of biodiversity is an important and effective strategy and means to deal with various crises. Recently, Dr. Zhou sent a letter of recommendation to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calling for the establishment of June 22 as the International Against Excessive Packaging Day, which is a very meaningful call.

Dr. Zhou said in the letter that excessive packaging has a very bad impact on the environment: the deforestation, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, marine debris pollution, etc. caused by it have destroyed the habitat and living environment of the species, and intensified loss of biodiversity. We must against excessive packaging to protect biodiversity. Therefore, through this letter of recommendation, Dr. Zhou recommended that UNEP and other UN agencies and organizations, as well as other stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, communities and volunteers around the world, take action to safeguard public environmental interest.

At the same time, the letter also calls on businesses and consumers to join the fight against excessive packaging when consuming products. Excessive packaging has also caused huge damage to human habitats. Enterprises should also consciously pursue simplicity, seize the core, improve the quality of products and services, and do not fooling consumers with excessive, flashy, and environmentally damaging packaging.

At the end of the letter of recommendation, Dr. Zhou applied the theme of this year’s World Environment Day, again stressed: For nature. We believe that through the establishment of the "International Against Excessive Packaging Day" (June 22), we can do it and change the status quo together.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

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Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/S8eZrljUnv5UdVewH0VUdA

By / Maggie