On September 14th, Mr. Han Xueshan, Vice President and Executive Secretary General of the China Packaging Federation, met with Mr. Thomas Østrup Møller, the Ambassador of the Royal Denmark to China, at the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Accompanying the Danish delegation were representatives including Ms. Dung Nguyen, the Consul General of the Royal Danish Consulate General in Shanghai, and Mr. Martin Rune Hoxer, the Executive Director of the Innovation Centre Denmark Shanghai.

Alibaba Local Services Group's Senior Vice President, Mr. Fang Jiansheng, and Deputy General Manager of the Cooperation and Development Department, Ms. Fang Ying, along with Amcor Greater China's CEO, Mr. She Xin, and the Executive General Manager of Techsun Group, Ms. Eva Xu, served as representatives of the Chinese companies. They were accompanied by Ms. Zhu Jing, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Packaging Federation, Ms. Zhang Yanni, Deputy Minister of the International Department, and Mr. Zhou Xingyu.

Since 2008, China and Denmark have established a comprehensive strategic partnership and have been actively engaged in close cooperation. And  in August, during Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s visit to China, Denmark and China jointly launched the new Green Joint Work Programme 2023-2026. Building on this plan, recently, Danish Minister for the Environment, Mr. Magnus Heunicke, visited China to further promote cooperation between China and Denmark in the field of green environmental protection.

During this meeting, both parties engaged in discussions regarding environmental solutions in the packaging sector, including topics such as environmentally friendly packaging for takeout, reducing excessive packaging, managing and controlling packaging waste, and green packaging for express delivery. They explored opportunities for collaboration.

Mr. Han Xueshan expressed that the China Packaging Federation embraces cooperation with the Kingdom of Denmark with a positive, sincere, and open attitude. He introduced the achievements of environmental projects in China's packaging industry and highlighted that China and Denmark can collaborate in various areas, including setting standards, green packaging and design, carbon footprint calculations, database sharing, demonstration projects, exchanging environmental experiences, and promoting recycling and reuse.

Ambassador Mr. Thomas Østrup Møller conveyed warm greetings on behalf of Minister Magnus Heunicke to Mr. Li Hua, the President of the China Packaging Federation. He expressed his hope to promote deep cooperation between the two countries in the field of environmentally friendly packaging, technology innovation projects incubation, takeout packaging, and solutions. He emphasized that the Danish Innovation Center plays a vital role as an explorer and practitioner of international cooperation in the innovation incubation field for the Kingdom of Denmark. He also expressed the expectation that the China Packaging Federation and the Danish Innovation Center would collaborate on more specific projects to facilitate mutual visits and cooperation between enterprises from both countries, share innovative technologies, establish systems for environmental protection and recycling, jointly release industry research, and lead environmental trends from an international perspective.

(The scented sachets and apples from the rural revitalization area of Qingyang in Gansu, China)

Mr. Fang Jiansheng, Senior Vice President of Alibaba Local Services Group and Ele.me, stated, in 2021 Alibaba Local Services Group established a strategic partnership with the China Packaging Federation and signed a memorandum of sustainable development cooperation with the Consulate General of Denmark in Shanghai. They are grateful for the support from the Danish government and the China Packaging Federation. Together with the China Packaging Federation, they jointly released the Green Design Guidelines for Takeout Packaging and established China's first group standard for takeout packaging. We also conducted seminars with the Danish Consulate General and the Danish Innovation Center and collaborated on completing a report on the circular economy of food packaging. These reports and standards have played a positive role in promoting packaging producers and users in both China and Denmark, contributing to the environmentally friendly development of food packaging."

Mr. Fang Jiansheng further introduced Ele.me's carbon account system, known as "ePoint Carbon," and the "No Cutlery Needed" option. Eleme has been continuously exploring green management throughout the entire lifecycle of plastic food containers. At the source, they have collaborated with the China Packaging Federation to establish standards for takeout packaging. During usage, they provide merchants with green design guidelines and procurement channels. After use, they have experimented with food container recycling and the reuse of plastic bottles. On September 8th, the prestigious academic journal "Science" published their empirical study, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, on "single-use tableware." The study assessed the achievements of the Eleme platform in guiding consumers toward green consumption and its contributions to carbon reduction, plastic reduction, forest protection, and environmental conservation.

Mr. Fang Jiansheng expressed a warm welcome to Danish food and retail enterprises to join Eleme. In the field of green and low-carbon packaging, whether it's technology, products, or collaborative research, they are open to learning from and collaborating with Denmark.

（Eleme's Asian Games Special Edition environmentally friendly mouse pad and stainless steel tableware）

Denmark, as a global leader in waste management, has accumulated extensive experience in promoting the development of the circular economy. China's platform economy is rapidly expanding, and the quantity of takeaway packaging waste nationwide is growing rapidly, making it imperative to seek more optimized environmental solutions. Both sides hope to explore deeper cooperation in this field.

Mr. Han Xueshan proposed the establishment of a regular working mechanism between both sides:

1. Collaborate on packaging standards development, technical exchange, technology transfer, and promotion in the areas of new environmentally friendly packaging materials, new environmentally friendly packaging technologies, packaging recycling, disposal, and reuse technologies.

2. Explore and research management and operational models in line with sustainable development goals throughout the entire lifecycle of packaging, tailored to the respective national contexts.

3. Jointly conduct environmental awareness campaigns to enhance public awareness of environmental protection and encourage more people to participate in the practice of low-carbon and eco-friendly living, thereby collectively creating a green, healthy, and beautiful home.

This meeting will facilitate collaboration between the China Packaging Federation and outstanding enterprises from Denmark, both upstream and downstream, to jointly promote the packaging industry's transition towards sustainable development.