Singles Day creates too much waste RECENTLY the “dual control policy” – controlling total annual energy consumption and energy consumption intensity (per unit of GDP) – was introduced. This is aimed at ensuring the limit set for the output of carbon dioxide is met. This will be very good for the environment and therefore should be applauded. There is, however, one thing that comes to my mind. We will soon have a humongous polluting event called Singles Day, or 11/11. During this event hundreds of millions of products will be sold online. All these goods will be packed in mountains of bubble wrap and plastic, then put in oversized cartons filled up with more plastic and then closed with so much tape that recycling of the cartons becomes almost impossible. These goods will then be transported by hundreds of cargo planes, thousands of trucks and tens of thousands of delivery workers on e-bikes. History has learned that a considerable amount of goods then will be returned and this will cause a lot of more movement and waste of package materials. As some factories are now limiting production in order to save the environment should it not be a wise decision to move Singles Day from online to offline? Let people go to the stores and purchase. That will at least reduce all the waste of packaging, or maybe we can put a limit on the return policy so that people think twice before they buy and only buy what they actually want. There are many steps that can be taken to reduce CO2 output; some of them are very simple. If you like to hear some let me know and I will share my ideas for a greener world. ?Jeffry Kuperus via email | 