A plastic life trapped in excessive packaging

Foodthink Says

It’s time for another 618 shopping festival. After the excitement of “buy, buy, buy” and “unbox, unbox, unbox”, have you ever wondered where all that plastic packaging we’ve swept out of our homes actually goes?

“Eating well” means more than just enjoying our food; it means protecting our planet’s ecosystem to truly achieve physical and mental well-being. In this edition of “Eat Something Good”, we’ve gathered readers’ vents about the excessive plastic packaging of food, along with some tips and tricks for recycling or reducing plastic use.

Some say that waste incinerators recently haven’t had enough rubbish to burn, so why worry about plastic waste? In fact, the lack of fuel for incinerators isn’t because there is less rubbish, but because China’s incineration capacity has exploded, leading to a shortage of waste to keep up with demand.

Moreover, whether plastic packaging is tossed in a bin and sent to a landfill or incinerator, or scattered across mountains and oceans only to return to our tables via the food chain, it causes immense harm to both humans and nature. Ultimately, we must reduce plastic consumption at the source.

For too long, a “throwaway” lifestyle has trapped humanity and plastic in a “toxic relationship we cannot quit”. Our daily lives are saturated with excessive plastic packaging, which “spreads and multiplies” across our food out of control. Faced with layers of plastic wrapped around takeaways, vegetables, and pastries, people feel disgust, anger, or more often, a sense of absurdity and speechlessness: “I didn’t want all this extra plastic, so why does it even exist?”

Plastic Takeaways, Plastic Lives

Takeaways have become a staple of our daily lives. Yet, the nearly 100 million delivery orders placed every day in China also generate a staggering amount of plastic packaging waste. Furthermore, research suggests that takeaway containers holding hot food at temperatures above 65°C can release microplastics and PFAS, leading to vascular endothelial damage. The severity of the plastic packaging problem in the takeaway sector may be far beyond what we imagine.

@Juanbao (Female, 24, Tianjin): My most intimate daily contact with plastic is when I’m unpacking a takeaway. First, I struggle to untie the plastic bag, then I force open the lid of the container, and finally, I tear open the packaging of the disposable cutlery. When I use a disposable plastic spoon to eat soup, I can even smell the plastic. When I leave the house and see a pile of takeaway packaging stacked at the door, I feel a sense of disgust—it makes me feel that my life is truly “plastic”.

🟠 Piles of takeaway waste at doorsteps have become an extremely common sight in urban life. Image source: Foodthink

@Sighing Repeater (Male, 37, Daqing): I clearly specify “no cutlery” when ordering a takeaway, yet it’s still sent. Please actually look at the customer’s requests! Stop blindly sending poor-quality disposable cutlery wrapped in plastic bags.

@Mangosteen (Female, 39, Kaifeng): Takeaway packaging is more complex than when you get food to go from a restaurant. The food is in a plastic box, wrapped in cling film to stop the sauce from leaking, and then placed inside another plastic bag.

@lmt (Male, 29): I like to order egg-filled pancakes for breakfast; they’re delicious. But every time I see a pancake—which could easily go in a paper bag—wrapped in an extra plastic bag, it feels completely wrong. It’s as absurd as wearing a jacket under a T-shirt. I understand that a plastic bag makes customers feel the food hasn’t been contaminated during delivery, but why not just seal it properly in a paper bag?

@Polar Bear (Female, 36, Jinhua): The disposable gloves and tiny sauce containers provided with takeaways are absolutely rampant.

The Plastic Waste Behind the Shopping Frenzy

The 618 festival is almost here again. After the “buy, receive, unbox” phase comes the “throw away” phase. Most packaging, such as adhesive tape, air cushions, and plastic bags, ends up in landfills. These materials are primarily made of PVC, which can take centuries to decompose.

@Yanan (Female, 42, Beijing): To prevent damage during transit, boxes of cooking oil or glass bottled products contain many air columns. Perhaps merchants could reduce the amount they use.

@LTT (Female, 30, Beijing): When buying from e-commerce platforms, there’s bound to be a lot of plastic packaging because of long-distance transport—things like bubble wrap for cushioning and adhesive tape. If we “eat local, buy local” and reduce transport, plastic packaging would naturally decrease.

@Daydream: I bought strawberries from a livestream. When they arrived and I unpacked them, there were six layers of packaging piled all over the floor. I understand that strawberries are fragile, but isn’t this too many layers? The strawberries were delicious, but unpacking them gave me a real sense of guilt about the environment. I won’t be buying small items like these strawberries online again.

The Endless Matryoshka of Gift Box Packaging

Gift boxes for mooncakes, zongzi, and tea are the worst offenders when it comes to over-packaging. A never-ending variety of designs emerge, and both merchants and consumers tacitly accept this “exquisite” packaging as a symbol of luxury and value; no one wants to be the one to point out “the Emperor’s new clothes”.

@Yellow Cat (Male, 30, Beijing): There is a brand of tribute chrysanthemum tea that is delicious, but every single flower has three layers of packaging: a base box, a top box, and a small plastic bag. The flowers are displayed like botanical specimens.

@Huahua (Female, Xi’an): When you buy a mooncake gift set now, you’ll find the packaging is just like a Russian Matryoshka doll: a carrier bag, then the gift box, then plastic dividers inside the box, then individual paper boxes for each mooncake, then individual plastic wrapping, and finally, individual small plastic slots. All this plastic packaging undoubtedly causes environmental pollution and makes the mooncakes more expensive.

@Zhichao (Male, 38, Beijing, founder of the “Postman’s Slow Delivery” initiative): A mooncake comes in a large box, which contains smaller packages, which contain a tray… or perhaps the tray contains a smaller package.

🟠 Mooncakes these days are becoming more exquisitely packaged, more expensive, and worse tasting. Image source: AliExpress

@wxy: Between April 2017 and November 2019, I worked for a food company. One year, I persuaded the product manager to try reducing the packaging for a best-selling mooncake gift box, but it resulted in poor sales. By the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, we were forced to strip away the outer packaging and sell the mooncakes individually. Because a large portion of mooncake gift boxes are purchased by companies for employee benefits and client gifts, there is a strong demand for the prestige and ‘perceived value’ of the packaging; even when prices were lowered, customers were unwilling to buy them…

Cucumbers Trapped in Cling Film

The phenomenon of over-packaging fresh produce in plastic has intensified in recent years. Placed in plastic boxes, sealed with cling film, and slipped into plastic bags—this is how fruit, vegetables, and meat must be packaged in many supermarkets and fresh-food platforms. Consumers aren’t even given the chance to refuse.

@Yawen (Female, 36, Beijing): Online vegetable delivery platforms like Hema and Dingdong, as well as some boutique supermarkets, often pre-package vegetables into portions using plastic boxes and cling film. This is perhaps to make them look more appealing, or to avoid the need for weighing and reduce wastage caused by customers picking through the produce. But considering the volume of these goods in daily circulation, I can’t imagine how much plastic waste is generated every day. These platforms are indeed very convenient at times, which makes it hard to break away; one can only hope for more eco-friendly packaging materials and smarter design. For example, the strawberries in the picture could certainly have a more minimalist design.

@Mangosteen (Female, 39, Kaifeng): When I go to the early morning market, every single item I buy comes in a plastic bag. Every morning, I come home carrying a multitude of vegetables, meat, and eggs, all encased in plastic.

@LTT (Female, 30, Beijing): Fruit is definitely the worst offender, and the situation varies by fruit. Strawberries are always wrapped in layers: plastic film, plastic boxes, and foam sheets—every non-recyclable material imaginable is used. Apples, pears, watermelons, and durians are more ‘resilient’. Citrus fruits used to be mostly unpackaged, but now they’ve gradually shifted toward every single fruit being wrapped in its own plastic bag.

I once saw ‘Crispy Honey Kumquats’ in a supermarket in Beijing. They are tiny, yet each one seemed to be shrink-wrapped as if it were a ‘Dragon Ball’. Looking around, it was a shimmering ocean of plastic. Later, I saw ‘Crispy Honey Kumquats’ in another supermarket with different packaging; this time, each tiny fruit was wrapped in gold foil-like paper. Placed in a gift box, they looked like coffee capsules, like green citrus Pu-erh, like any luxury item that belongs in a gift box—everything except a kumquat.

@Zhichao (Male, 38, Beijing, founder of the ‘Postman Slow Delivery’ initiative): When buying vegetables at the supermarket, the label codes must be stuck onto the bag, which means every vegetable must be in a plastic bag. Then there are these ‘Crispy Honey Kumquats’ I’ve seen in supermarkets, where each one is individually bagged and then further sealed in a plastic box with plastic film.

@Wu Xiaowai (Female, 44, Xiamen, author of the ‘Zero Waste Event Guide’): I cook at home two-thirds of the time and eat out for the other third, but I rely mainly on the dark stores of Sam’s Club and Pupu for groceries. Consequently, plastic bags, fresh produce packaging, and insulated bags and ice packs for frozen goods are inevitable.

@Seaweed Egg Drop Soup (Female): Every time I shop at the supermarket, I wonder why a perfectly good cucumber has to be placed in a plastic box and then wrapped in cling film? You might not see this if you buy from a traditional wet market, but almost all large fresh-food supermarkets do it. What is the reasoning behind this?

@Polar Bear (Female, 36, Jinhua): On the occasional days I don’t have time to shop and use Dingdong, every item of vegetable, meat, or seafood comes with an abundance of plastic packaging. Some of it is necessary, some isn’t. I feel there should be better biodegradable solutions, such as using paper materials for sorting or packaging.

@Wu Xiaowai (Female, 44, Xiamen, author of the ‘Zero Waste Event Guide’): I just received broccoli from Sam’s Club today—a set of three, and each one lives in its own ‘single room’. The plastic boxes are surprisingly thick! As a former employee of a fresh-food supermarket chain, I understand that some plastic packaging is unavoidable if merchants want to minimise spoilage, but the boxes Sam’s uses are generally excessively thick.

Snacks Dressed in Layers

At some point, it became trendy to have exquisitely presented snacks in individual small packets that can be opened one by one. Do consumers truly enjoy such complex packaging? Or is this a distorted culture created by snack brands simply to achieve differentiation in a competitive market?

@Zhichao (Male, 38, Beijing, founder of the ‘Postman Slow Delivery’ initiative): I never would have imagined that one day, upon opening a packet of instant noodles, I would find the noodle cake itself wrapped in a layer of plastic.

@Polar Bear (Female, 36, Jinhua): Snack packaging is almost all individualised—there’s just too much plastic. Then there are the ingredient packs for things like Luosifen; they are absurdly numerous. It’s reached the point where I’m afraid to buy these foods, but if I make them myself, I can’t seem to source such small quantities of ingredients.

@kly: Individual packaging is common. If it’s for items like coffee or tea, where there’s a need for portable sachets, I can understand it. But why on earth do red dates need to be grouped and individually wrapped like this?

Do you suffer from ‘plastic packaging hoarding syndrome’?

Some people, especially many older adults, like to save plastic packaging for future reuse. However, because they accumulate it faster than they use it, some have jokingly described this as ‘plastic packaging hoarding syndrome’. But when compared to throwing plastic in the bin, allowing it to end up in landfill or incinerators, and turning a blind eye to the potential consequences, which approach is actually the ‘syndrome’?

@Yuanqian (Female, 35, Dongguan): In an ideal world, I keep what can still be used, process what can be recycled, and look for alternative uses for what cannot. The result is that my rooms are now filled with plastic waste…

@Taro Boba (Female, 31, Zhengzhou): I remember hearing my mother and aunts complain about my grandmother’s ‘habit’ of hoarding plastic bags when I was a child. Every time I saw those crumpled bags being swept out the door, I felt a secret sense of satisfaction. Yet now that I run my own little household, I’ve unconsciously started hoarding them too. I always feel I’ll need them eventually, but in the end, I usually throw them away in a fit of frustration.

@Polar Bear (Female, 36, Jinhua): I collect plastic bags, and I use mineral water bottles to make enzymes or wash them and sort them for the recycling centre. I also collect cardboard boxes so that people who make a living selling scrap can collect and recycle them more easily.

@Stella (Female): I’ve just folded a toast bread bag. I used to bring my own toast bags to the bakery, but then I realised most toast comes with its own bag, so sometimes I just choose to buy bread that isn’t packaged.

The day before yesterday, a colleague went to Haidilao and brought back some packed fruit. I washed and kept the containers; they were really clean and made of PP5. I’ve also washed and kept PP5 takeaway boxes from the office, as well as plastic boxes from other fruits or pastries. I really can’t bear to throw them away.

I used to hoard a lot of these in my old office, but my colleagues told me they were a nuisance when moving house, so they all went in the bin. I just hope the cleaning lady could sell them as scrap. My family doesn’t understand why I collect these boxes either. I truly hate throwing them away, but when I go shopping, so many things already come in boxes or bags, so I just try my best to choose items without packaging.

@Yuxuan (Female, Beijing): I reuse whatever I can, for example, when sending parcels or shopping. If I find that online shopping parcels or products are over-packaged, I’ll give feedback to the merchant and suggest they reduce the packaging, but often I just throw it away.

@Yawen (Female, 36, Beijing): I collect delivery bags and various plastic bags for reuse (usually as bin liners, so I don’t buy extra ones). I use reusable plastic boxes instead of single-use plastic bags (for instance, when buying meat that needs to be portioned and frozen). The produce bags from the supermarket are quite sturdy, so I keep those to use as food waste bags. In short, in situations where plastic is unavoidable, I try to make the most of it and maximise its utility.

Find plastic waste recycling hubs near you

For an individual, it is indeed difficult to achieve fully circular reuse of accumulated plastic packaging. However, if we can use centralised recycling hubs to redistribute excess packaging for larger commercial or public purposes, we might improve the efficiency of recycling. Are there any such hubs near you? Please share them in the comments.

@Beijing Organic Farmer’s Market (Beijing): At the Farmer’s Market, we continuously recycle clean, sturdy, and reusable second-hand packaging such as shopping bags, cardboard boxes, and foam boxes, as well as egg trays and fruit sleeves sold by our farming friends. If you have any spare yarn or knitted items at home, you are welcome to bring them to the market; we will donate them to the ‘Yarn Revival Group’, who knit warm clothes for children in Tibet.

Image source: Beijing Organic Farmer’s Market

@wxy: My previous job involved packaging design and procurement for our company’s own brand products. At the time, some loyal customers contacted us saying they had piles of egg boxes and plastic fruit and vegetable containers—all washed and stacked—and hoped we could take them back for reuse. However, due to food safety regulations and requirements from the quality management department, we had to decline. Later, I realised that implementing plastic reduction from the corporate side is incredibly difficult; every department and role has its own KPIs, and those take priority over reducing plastic. So, I tried advocating from the consumer side, starting with the reduction of large plastic bags.

I began by setting up a shared shopping bag box in the checkout area of the shop, where customers could leave spare bags from home and those who forgot theirs could take one for free. Some people expressed concerns about using other people’s bags, since they come into contact with food. We ignored those comments; if they didn’t want to use them, they didn’t have to. Later, I collaborated with a factory where a customer worked to make shopping bags from leftover pram materials; these were sold at zero profit or could be exchanged for loyalty points.

🟠Shopping bags donated by customers for free use. Image source: wxy

@Yellow Kitten (Male, 30, Beijing): Some post offices collect delivery packaging to provide it for free to people coming to post parcels.

@Zhichao (Male, 38, Beijing, founder of ‘Postman Slow Delivery’): I started an initiative called ‘Postman Slow Delivery’. By collaborating with cycling enthusiasts, eco-experts, and green merchants, we’ve built a zero-carbon transport circular platform. Simply put, we use cycling to keep second-hand bags moving, delivering them to merchants who need them.

Join Free U Nature

Scan the QR code on the poster below to join Free U Nature as a courier cyclist. As deliveries become faster and plastic waste piles up like mountains, let’s tackle the climate crisis together through cycling and the circular reuse of pre-loved items.

Through our ‘Postman Slow Delivery’ initiative, we have identified several businesses that currently accept second-hand bags for recycling, which we are sharing here:

➊ Jishi (Lixiang Shop): N20, Phoenix Hub Lixiang Commercial Street (Daily 10:00-22:00)

➋ Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market @ Shangri-La Hotel: Below Building 29, Zizhuyuan Road, Zizhujiao, West Third Ring Road (Saturdays 9:00-12:00)

➌ Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market @ Lecheng Centre: 22 East Third Ring Middle Road (Sundays 10:00-13:00)

➍ Guanshe: B1, Guanshe South Zone, Liangmaqiao (Saturdays/Sundays 12:00-18:00)

➎ Shantao Charity Shop (Beijing Xueyan Building Store): 103, Block B, Xueyan Building, 33 Shuangqing Road, Haidian (10:00-19:00)

➏ New China Trade Center Hotel: Public areas/Refinery Workshop Front Desk/Aimer Sport (Daily 9:00-21:00)

➐ Three Rabbits Second-hand Circular Store: 2nd Floor, No. 19 Chaoyangmen North Small Street (Daily 10:00-21:00)

➑ Hoshino Shop: Xinzhuang Village, Changping (Daily 8:00-20:00)

➒ Baixing Convenience Store: Xiayuan Village, Changping (Daily 8:00-20:00)

@Wu Xiaowai (Female, 44, Xiamen, author of the ‘Zero-Waste Event Guide’): In my city, community waste sorting stations have large metal mesh ‘styrofoam recycling bins’. These are collected at the nearby community waste sorting education centre, where specialised machines compress them into blocks before they are sent to recycling factories. Clean plastic packaging can be placed in smart recycling bins for paid recovery, while dirty meal boxes, plastic films and courier bags are thrown into recyclable bins to be sent to low-value recyclable sorting centres.

@Three Maws: I keep some take-away boxes and supermarket plastic fruit and veg containers to use as storage or as water trays under plant pots—they’re just the right size. I’ve also recently learned how to use a screwdriver to poke holes in bubble tea cups to turn them into planters. You usually get loads of screwdrivers with new furniture; just heat the tip over a flame and poke the holes through.

@Liu Lifang (Shanghai): Shantao Charity Supermarket once held an event where you could swap bags for books, excluding plastic bags. I exchanged a few non-woven fabric bags for several books.

Some Plastic-Reduction Tips

Recycling is merely one solution for handling plastic waste. Given that plastic is notoriously difficult to degrade, even landfilling or incineration can contaminate groundwater and release greenhouse gases and toxins. Therefore, we must still fundamentally reduce the use of plastic.

@LTT (Female, 30, Beijing): Use my own thermos/travel mug; use my own insulated containers for take-away meals; use cloth bags for shopping; order take-away less often.

@Polar Bear (Female, 36, Jinhua): Use eco-bags when shopping at the vegetable market, order fewer take-aways, and try to buy food in glass jars or paper boxes.

@Yuan Qian (Female, 35, Dongguan): Cook at home, bring my own lunch boxes, cutlery and water bottles when out, use my own bags for groceries, eat fewer snacks, and avoid unnecessary consumption wherever possible. When visiting other cities, I specifically bring my own jars to visit bulk stores.

@Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market (Beijing): Our market community shop has opened a ‘Bulk Section’—everyone is welcome to bring their own containers! In the sweltering summer, why not come and buy some red beans, mung beans, dried lily, dried silver ear and yellow rock sugar in bulk to make a refreshing, cooling dessert soup.

@Yuxuan (Female, Beijing): Try to eat at home as much as possible, shop less, and bring my own packaging (such as glass containers) when buying things. Refuse disposable cutlery when eating out, and add a note to take-away orders asking for no packaging.

Furthermore, we should act as supervisors by reporting non-compliant businesses. For instance, if a restaurant illegally provides disposable cutlery, call the local street’s comprehensive law enforcement team; they will usually come to inspect and correct the issue quickly. A list should be created detailing various violations and the corresponding report numbers—such as issues with disposable cutlery, public pollution, or private pollution—and spread widely online to make it easier for the public to exercise oversight.

@Yawen (Female, 36, Beijing): Use silicone bowl lids instead of cling film; bring my own shopping bags to the supermarket instead of using paid plastic bags; try to avoid disposable items like single-use face towels and underwear.

@Break Free From Plastic (Guangzhou): If you want to find solutions for escaping a disposable plastic lifestyle, you are welcome to join this fun and plastic-reducing ‘Environmental Reuse Day’ Market! Here you can experience green living ideas such as circular coffee cups, professional sports equipment repair, small-scale ‘soy-sauce style’ bulk shopping, and second-hand exchanges. Together with many vendors, you can find a sustainable lifestyle that suits you.

Thanks to the readers above for sharing. We will select 5 friends to receive gifts and invite 1 friend to join us for lunch at the Foodthink office. If you also have a vent about excessive plastic packaging, please leave a comment below. We also encourage you to forward the recycling or plastic-reduction tips mentioned in this article to your friends. Let’s break our unhealthy reliance on plastic together and reach a ‘Zero-Waste Planet’.

Planning: Carrie

Editing: Yuyang