Escursell Sílvia, Llorach-Massana Pere, Roncero M Blanca
CELBIOTECH_Paper Engineering Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech, Colom 11, 08222, Terrassa, Spain.
Elisava, Escola Universitària de Disseny I Enginyeria de Barcelona, La Rambla 30-32, 08002, Barcelona, Spain.
J Clean Prod. 2021 Jan 20;280:124314. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124314. Epub 2020 Sep 23.
Online purchasing, and hence e-commerce packaging production and use, have grown steadily in recent years, and so has their environmental impact as a result. This paper reviews the evolution of packaging over the last century through a compilation of scientific literature on e-commerce packaging focusing on its environmental side. The primary aims were to identify research gaps in e-commerce packaging and to propose new research lines aimed at reducing its environmental impact. A systematic search of abstracts was conducted to identify articles dealing with sustainability in e-commerce packaging in order to better understand changes in materials and formats, identify problems such as oversizing and allow prospective readers to become acquainted with the latest innovations in materials, sustainability and logistics. Based on existing research, packaging materials and technology evolved rapidly until the 1990s. Later, however, it has become increasingly difficult to further reduce their cost and environmental impact. Also, some packaging products continue to be made from non-renewable materials and thus restrict growth of e-commerce. Further research is needed with a view to producing new packages from renewable sources such as cellulose-containing materials, which are widely available in nature, or from recycled cellulose-based materials such as cartonboard. Improving distribution processes with new, more effective tools could additionally help alleviate the environmental impact of packaging. Similarly, new production processes such as additive manufacturing and 3D printing might help optimize package volume and shape, thereby facilitating more sustainable production through, for example, reduced CO emissions. Currently available technology can be useful to rethink the whole e-commerce packaging paradigm, which has changed very little over the past few decades.
近年来，在线购物以及由此产生的电子商务包装生产与使用稳步增长，其对环境的影响也随之增加。本文通过汇编有关电子商务包装环境方面的科学文献，回顾了上个世纪包装的演变。主要目的是找出电子商务包装方面的研究空白，并提出旨在减少其环境影响的新研究方向。我们对摘要进行了系统检索，以确定涉及电子商务包装可持续性的文章，以便更好地了解材料和形式的变化，识别诸如尺寸过大等问题，并让潜在读者熟悉材料、可持续性和物流方面的最新创新。基于现有研究，包装材料和技术在20世纪90年代之前迅速发展。然而，后来要进一步降低其成本和环境影响变得越来越困难。此外，一些包装产品仍由不可再生材料制成，从而限制了电子商务的发展。需要进一步开展研究，以便用可再生资源生产新包装，例如自然界中广泛存在的含纤维素材料，或用再生纤维素基材料如硬纸板。用新的、更有效的工具改进配送流程可能有助于减轻包装对环境的影响。同样，增材制造和3D打印等新生产工艺可能有助于优化包装体积和形状，从而通过减少碳排放等方式促进更可持续的生产。目前可用的技术有助于重新思考整个电子商务包装模式，在过去几十年里，这种模式变化甚微。
