China’s online shopping addiction is killing its green packaging drive


  • TECH
  • Monday, 21 Dec 2020

Online shopping has become such a key driver of China’s domestic economy, especially during the pandemic, that authorities have been reluctant to institute rules that could hurt the industry. — TheDigitalArtist/Pixabay

If you worry about all the waste generated by the annual rush of holiday shopping and gift giving, it’s nothing compared to the mountains of discarded packaging that comes from a single event in China.

On Nov 11 each year, the world’s biggest consumer market goes into overdrive as e-commerce giants like Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd and JD.com Inc lure shoppers with huge bargains during the Singles’ Day bonanza. Alibaba reported almost 500 billion yuan (RM308.85bil) of sales this year, nearly four times US Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending combined. On its Tmall platform, transactions reached a peak when 583,000 orders were made in a single second.

Subscribe or renew your subscriptions to win prizes worth up to RM68,000!

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

Exclusive-Amazon likely to face investigation under EU tech rules next year, sources say
US natgas producers chase AI-driven surge in power demand to weather low prices
Snowflake shares surge on rosy forecast, AI deal with Anthropic
Digital banks lead profitability gains among Brazilian lenders, says central bank
PayPal fixes outage that affected thousands worldwide
X's former top policy chief takes job with Elon Musk rival, Sam Altman
Alibaba integrates e-commerce platforms into a single business unit
US watchdog issues final rule to supervise Big Tech payments, digital wallets
Nvidia to build AI school in Indonesia, VP says
A Google PC running Android could be in the works

Others Also Read