Parcel Automation Packaging Standard Extended to 60cm... Detailed Criteria Established

A view of delivery boxes sent to each lawmaker's office in the lobby of the National Assembly Members' Office Building ahead of the holiday. Stock photo unrelated to the article content.

The government will partially ease regulations on excessive packaging for parcel deliveries. If packaging is carried out using automated facilities, the minimum size standard will be recognized up to 60 cm. Additionally, if more than 20% recycled plastic is used, the packaging space ratio standard will also be relaxed to 60%.

On March 4, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced that it would issue an administrative notice for 20 days, from March 5 to March 25, regarding a partial amendment to the “Notice on the Simplified Measurement Method for Packaging Materials and Packaging Methods of Products.” This revision aims to enhance the effectiveness of the system by reflecting challenges encountered in the field since the enforcement of the disposable transport packaging method and standards on April 30 last year.

To reduce packaging waste generated during parcel delivery, the government currently imposes standards on companies with an average annual sales of over 50 billion won. These include maintaining a packaging space ratio of 50% or less (excluding packages where the sum of length, width, and height is 50 cm or less), and limiting the number of packaging instances to a single occurrence. However, a two-year grace period is currently in place to help the industry adapt to the new system.

Until now, the government has gathered feedback from stakeholders—including associations, companies, experts, and civil society—through policy discussions. The latest amendment reflects the results of these discussions and includes provisions to relax the standards in cases of unavoidable circumstances.

Specifically, if products vulnerable to impact, such as glass, ceramics, or clay, are packaged for the purpose of preventing damage, these cases will be considered unavoidable and thus excluded from the application of packaging standards.

Employees are sorting the piled-up Lunar New Year parcel mail at the Dongseoul Postal Logistics Center in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. The Asia Business Daily DB

The standards for parcel packaging using automated facilities will also be partially adjusted. Currently, packages with a sum of length, width, and height of 50 cm or less are exempt from packaging space ratio requirements, considering the need for attaching shipping labels, etc. However, due to the structural characteristics of automated equipment, it is difficult to use boxes under 60 cm. Therefore, for packaging that uses existing or currently installed automated equipment, the minimum size standard will be raised from 50 cm to 60 cm, exempting them from the packaging space ratio requirement. In contrast, manual packaging will continue to be subject to the existing 50 cm standard.

Incentives to encourage plastic reduction are also included. If more than 20% recycled material (PCR PE) is used in parcel plastic packaging, the packaging space ratio standard will be relaxed from 50% to 60%. When using paper cushioning, considering the additional need for buffering, a 70% standard will apply. If two or more products for sale are packaged together, or if packaging materials are reused, the packaging standards will not be applied.

The measurement method for plastic packaging will also be improved. The current method, based on paper box standards, can result in different packaging space ratios for products of the same volume depending on their height. The amendment will introduce a new calculation method for plastic packaging, setting permissible product size ranges for each standardized packaging material size.

Furthermore, certain long or flat products will be exempt from the packaging space ratio requirement if they meet specific criteria. This applies to "long products," where each of the two shorter sides is 20% or less of the longest side, and "flat products," where the second longest side is at least four times the length of the shortest side. During the administrative notice period, the Ministry will collect feedback from relevant agencies, industry, experts, and the general public, and aims to finalize and implement the amendment in April.

Kim Goeung, Director of the Resource Circulation Bureau at the Ministry of Climate, stated, “This amendment is a measure that takes into account the practical applicability of excessive parcel packaging regulations in the field. Even after the implementation of the system, we will continue to listen to the opinions of diverse stakeholders to ensure realistic system operation, and we will cooperate with the industry to reduce waste generated by excessive packaging.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.