Sustainability assessment of express packaging products: An integrated model and a case study in China

As e-commerce continues to grow rapidly, more express packaging is being abandoned, leading to several problems, including resource waste, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and social management pressure. As a result of these challenges, businesses and governments started to pay more attention to the sustainability of express packaging products. This study presents an integrated model for assessing the sustainability of express packaging products and implements it in China. The life cycle assessment approach is used to deconstruct and model the economic, environmental, and social metrics of express packaging products based on their operational and social management data. The methods for calculating key sustainability metrics (physical and financial, component and total, and absolute and relative) have been developed. Empirical research based on the data of China's express delivery market in 2021 demonstrates that reusable express packaging products exhibit significant sustainability advantages. Furthermore, the model was expanded to support reusable express packaging product design decisions. The research outcomes provide valuable insights for optimizing express packaging design and operational strategies, while also serving as empirical evidence to inform governmental regulatory frameworks.