Packaging Inspection—All About "Excessive Packaging"

With the rapid pace of economic development, people’s daily lives are also becoming faster and more hectic—e-commerce + The consumption pattern in logistics has become unstoppable, and consequently, "overpackaging" is only intensifying. In packaging inspections, what exactly do we mean by "packaging" and "overpackaging"? And why is achieving "reasonable packaging" so challenging? Moreover, what specific regulations does China have in place regarding overpackaging? Finally, how is "overpackaging" assessed during packaging inspections?

I. On the concepts of packaging and overpackaging.

Packaging refers to the use of containers, materials, and auxiliary items—applied through specific techniques—to protect products during transportation, facilitate storage and handling, and boost sales. It also encompasses the operational activities involved in selecting and applying these elements to achieve the aforementioned goals. Excessive packaging, on the other hand, occurs when the number of packaging layers, the void ratio, or the overall packaging cost surpasses what is necessary, thereby exceeding the product’s basic functional requirements.

2. What national laws, regulations, and standards govern excessive packaging?

To curb excessive product packaging in China and prevent resource waste, the national government along with several provinces and cities have established relevant laws, regulations, and standards that are applied in packaging inspections, aiming to regulate overpackaging practices as follows:

"The Circular Economy Promotion Law," "The Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste," "The Clean Production Promotion Law," "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Metrological Verification of Quantitatively Packaged Products," GB 23350-2009 Requirements for Restricting Excessive Product Packaging "Food and Cosmetics," GB/T 31268-2014 Limit excessive product packaging General regulations. There are also several local requirements, such as the "Several Provisions on Reducing Packaging Materials for Goods in Shanghai Municipality" and the "Nanjing Municipal Measures for Metrological Supervision and Administration," among others.

3. What are the three limit requirements related to excessive packaging?

Currently in China, excessive packaging of goods during packaging inspections is primarily categorized into deceptive packaging and luxury packaging. Efforts to control excessive packaging mainly focus on: 3 Limited requirements include: packaging void ratio, number of packaging layers, and packaging cost.

4. What is packaging void ratio?

In packaging inspection, according to GB 23350-2009 The regulation on excessive packaging of goods defines food and cosmetics as products, specifying that the packaging void ratio refers to the ratio of unnecessary space volume inside the product’s sales packaging to the total volume of the sales packaging itself. GB 23350-2009 Requirements for limiting excessive packaging of food and cosmetics: The formula for calculating the packaging void ratio is as follows:

X ——Packaging void ratio, Vn ——The volume of the smallest rectangular parallelepiped circumscribing the packaging volume of the product, V0 ——The total volume of the product's original packaging, k ——Product Essential Space Coefficient. In the standard, the value is set to 0.6。

Five What types of packaging are likely to result in excessive void space? What are some common product categories that often fall victim to overpackaging?

Through packaging inspections, we’ve discovered that some uniquely shaped products and their packaging include complimentary items—however, these extras aren’t clearly indicated on the packaging itself, which often leads to excessive porosity in the packaging. Products most prone to overpackaging include everyday consumer goods closely tied to daily life, such as tea, alcoholic beverages, health supplements, and cosmetics, as well as festive gifts like mooncakes and zongzi for traditional Chinese festivals.

Six • Packaging inspection: Key elements and significance in food packaging control.

Summarizing relevant domestic and international standards and specifications, the key packaging testing and control indicators include: physical and mechanical properties, slip resistance, thickness, retort resistance, sealing performance, cap torque, and print quality. As a vital player in this extensive packaging industry chain—spanning packaging material suppliers, courier companies, e-commerce platforms, merchants, and countless consumers—China Packaging Research & Testing Center, as the country’s leading packaging testing institution, consistently works to curb "excessive packaging" while delivering top-notch services to our valued customers.