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Elaborate mooncake packaging creates additional packaging waste
By Guan Xiaomeng (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-09-21 15:38 A China Bakery Food and Sugar Products Association
official says that 15,000 tons of moon-cakes worth 900 million to 1 billion yuan
are being consumed in Beijing this year, causing about 10 percent more packaging
waste during the festival than on normal days.
Mooncakes, baked cakes made with fillings of nuts, fruits, meat or other
stuffing as a part of traditional Chinese Moon Festival fare, are a must each
year in September.
However, in recent years, moon-cake producers have resorted to ever-expanding
efforts to make their packaging more elaborate. They believe that the more
attractive the packages, or by adding "gifts" inside the packages such as
bottles of wine or a small golden figure of Buddha, people will be more likely
to purchase their mooncakes.
A box of mooncakes with
a "gift" but just six cakes in it costs as much as 12,888 yuan.
[baidu] |
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Such goods have disrupted the mooncake market and harm consumers' interests.
Worse, the packaging is a waste of resources and pollutes the environment when
consumers throw the boxes in garbage bins.
To revamp the mooncake market and save resources, the National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Commerce (MOC), State Administration
for Industry and Commerce and State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision
jointly targeted "sky-high mooncake" makers this year, and a few improvements
achieved. This year's Moon Festival saw some moderately and low-priced mooncakes
back on the market shelves, selling alongside more extravagant cakes.
However, consumers' distorted concepts about the product can make the task
difficult. According to polls in Beijing and Shanghai, 65 percent of the
respondents take packaging into account when they buy mooncakes. Some 53 percent
of them will choose those with good prices while only 37 percent will buy based
on taste. More than 90 percent of respondents said they would buy mooncakes as
festival presents for their bosses, relatives or friends rather than for
themselves or their families.
It is a tradition of Chinese people to visit others with presents, usually
various foods during festivals and people usually choose those with good-looking
packages for the sake of "face," no matter the true value of the food itself.
However, tradition is not a persuasive excuse in an environmentally conscious
nation like China, since mooncake packaging that is too elaborate can pose an
obstacle for the country to save resources.
A senior engineer with Beijing Municipal Administration Commission said that
mooncake packaging generally contributes to a 10 percent increase in packaging
waste around festival time. As a result, another 38,000 to 57,000 yuan is spent
each day on waste disposal, a heavy financial and environmental burden.
Public support is key to winning this war. As long as people buy the wrong
products, such items will stay on the shelves.
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