Major New Guide for Takeaway Packaging: Beijing Standard Takes Effect on 1 September. How Should Merchants Choose?
Starting with a single meal, what should a merchant do? A five-step checklist: classify the food, select the format, verify safety, check the end-of-life route, and standardize the process in an SOP.
RESEARCH QUESTION
How Should a Takeaway Meal Be Packaged?
What makes the guide worth studying is not whether it will drive a particular material out of takeaway packaging, but whether it can turn “green packaging” into a practical selection framework for merchants: what package should be used for each meal, how many layers are necessary, whether a seal is required, and which viable route the package will follow after use.
Analytical framework: Food classification → packaging selection → safe fulfilment → source reduction and end-of-life route → store SOP → supply-chain evidence.
DB11/T 2510-2026 is not a materials blacklist. It is a set of selection rules for merchants that begins with safety and functionality, applies source reduction, and then connects the package to recycling, biodegradation or reuse.
01 RECOMMENDATION / BOUNDARY
It Governs Selection Logic, Not a Materials Blacklist
Local standards are voluntary standards. The Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China states that industry standards and local standards are voluntary, while mandatory standards must be implemented and the state encourages the adoption of voluntary standards. The guide therefore does not amount to a new blanket ban on all takeaway packaging in Beijing from 1 September, nor does it prohibit paper, plastic, aluminium foil or biodegradable materials as an entire category.
Four Questions for Merchants at the Packing Station
Is it necessary? Does this film layer genuinely improve safety or delivery reliability?
Can it be reduced? Can it be made thinner or narrower, or can the lid or a locking tab provide the seal?
Can it be separated? After use, can the components be separated and enter a genuine recycling, biodegradation or reuse route?
Sources: Standardization Law; official interpretation of the Beijing guide
02 FOOD SCENARIO
Soup Content and Temperature Determine the Packaging Format
The official interpretation divides takeaway packaging into “simple packaging” and “sealed packaging.” A public interpretation reproduced on the Beijing municipal government portal provides a practical threshold: meals with no liquid, or fully enclosed meals in which the liquid level does not exceed one-quarter of the container height, may use simple packaging; when the liquid level exceeds one-quarter, sealed packaging should be considered. This one-quarter threshold is a classification criterion in the public interpretation and should not be presented as a separate legal provision.
For ambient-temperature, chilled and frozen items, plastic wrapping film should not be used unless necessary. When hot meals genuinely require sealing, a small amount of narrow edge-sealing film may be used. For beverages, the guide recommends paper seals that can be physically separated easily from the cup.
Steamed buns and flatbreads may be packed in bags; burgers, sandwiches and hot dogs should use fewer packaging layers; pizza and cakes are suited to paper food boxes; stir-fried dishes and rice bowls may use lidded containers without a separate sealing structure; barbecue items may use aluminium foil together with a sealing bag; and dumplings or sushi may use divided compartments to reduce crushing and flavour transfer.
Sources: Official interpretation by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation; public interpretation on the Beijing municipal government portal
03 FOUR PRINCIPLES
The Four Principles Form a Sequence, Not Four Parallel Slogans
01 | Safety First satisfy food hygiene, temperature-resistance, leak-prevention and hygienic delivery requirements.
02 | Reduction Match the package size to the food and reduce layers, film, void space and unnecessary outer bags.
03 | End of Life “Easy to recycle” and “biodegradable” describe two different routes and must not be conflated simply because of a material name.
04 | Reuse The public interpretation focuses reuse primarily on secondary uses for outer packaging that does not directly contact food.
Sources: Official interpretation by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation
04 MERCHANT ACTIONS
What Should Merchants Do? A Five-Step Checklist
The guide ultimately has to work at the packing station. Merchants do not need to begin by mastering every materials term; they can start with each menu item and build their packaging-selection rules in five steps.
01 / Classify the Menu
Record serving temperature, liquid level, fat content, delivery time and leakage risk. Meals with no liquid, or with liquid not exceeding one-quarter of the container height, may first be assessed for simple packaging; above that threshold, focus on whether sealed packaging is required.
02 / Select the Packaging Format
For ambient-temperature, chilled and frozen items, avoid plastic wrapping film unless necessary. For hot meals that genuinely require it, use only a small amount of narrow edge-sealing film. For beverages, first assess paper seals that can be separated easily from the cup.
03 / Verify Safety First
Check food-contact and hygiene requirements, service temperature, lid sealing, tamper evidence, leakage and the risk of contamination during delivery. Material reduction must not compromise safety or delivery performance.
04 / Check Reduction and the End-of-Life Route
Match the package size to the food, reduce layers and unnecessary outer bags, and prioritize mono-material or readily separable structures. When biodegradable materials are used, verify the applicable material standards, collection arrangements and treatment conditions at the same time.
05 / Standardize the Store SOP
BIOTEN recommendation: standardize the packaging model, assembly method, sealing conditions and exception handling for each SKU; conduct real delivery tests before training staff; and continually track packaging consumption, leakage complaints, rework rates and procurement costs.
Three things not to do: Do not mechanically replace all plastic with paper. Do not remove sealing where safety conditions do not permit it. Do not claim that “biodegradable” materials have already delivered environmental benefits when no applicable standard or end-of-life conditions are in place.
Sources: Official interpretation by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation; public interpretation on the Beijing municipal government portal
05 CORE HIGHLIGHTS
Core Strength of the Standard: Turning “Green” into Action at the Packing Station
01 / RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility Moves Forward Responsibility shifts from relying on material names and test reports to managing actual food, temperature and delivery risks at the merchant site.
02 / SCENARIO
Scenario-Based Selection Liquid content, temperature, fat content and leakage risk jointly determine the packaging structure; materials are no longer assessed in isolation.
03 / ORDER
A Clear Sequence Safety is the baseline, reduction is the first action, recycling or biodegradation is the end-of-life route, and reuse extends value.
04 / PROCUREMENT
Actionable Procurement Stores can build a food-to-packaging matrix, while suppliers must document safety, functionality, material use, separability and end-of-life conditions.
Sources: Official interpretation by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation; public interpretation on the Beijing municipal government portal
06 STANDARD CHAIN
Beijing Is Building a Three-Tier Standards Framework for Green Takeaway Services
01 / MANAGEMENT
GB/T 43285-2023 Explains how green takeaway services should be managed, covering businesses, platforms, packaging, waste and information disclosure.
02 / EVALUATION
DB11/T 2246-2024 Defines what kinds of takeaway packaging may be evaluated as green.
03 / MERCHANT USE
DB11/T 2510-2026 Explains how merchants should select and use packaging for different foods.
Sources: Announcements for GB/T 43285-2023, DB11/T 2246-2024 and DB11/T 2510-2026
07 ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
Connecting the Guide to the Higher-Level Legal Framework
China's Ecological and Environmental Code came into force on 15 August 2026. It does not convert every food-specific packaging practice in the Beijing guide directly into a uniform national rule, but it provides a clearer higher-level legal direction for green takeaway services.
Article 953 / CIRCULAR ECONOMY
The circular-economy framework emphasizes reduction, reuse and resource recovery, providing higher-level legal logic for questions such as whether a layer can be eliminated, whether an item can be reused and how it should be handled after use.
Articles 973 and 974 / PACKAGING
The Code encourages green and reduced packaging and seeks to prevent excessive packaging. The food-delivery sector should reduce packaging, prioritize reusable and readily recyclable packaging, and actively promote recovery and recycling.
Article 1000 / GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN
Businesses should implement green procurement, build green supply chains and promote coordinated green transformation across upstream and downstream partners.
Article 1001 / FOOD SERVICE
Food-service businesses should adopt material-saving technologies, equipment and facilities that help protect the ecological environment, and reduce consumer goods that waste resources or pollute the environment.
Sources: Ecological and Environmental Code
08 OPPORTUNITIES / CHALLENGES
Opportunities and Challenges for the Packaging Industry
Opportunity 1 | Shift from selling individual packages to delivering SKU-level solutions. Food-service merchants need a food-to-packaging matrix that maps temperature, liquid proportion, fat content, delivery distance, sealing risk and eating method to the appropriate structure. It should identify which SKUs can eliminate a film layer and which must retain a leak-prevention solution. Suppliers able to deliver packaging, sealing, compartmentalization and store SOPs together are closer to the realities of procurement decisions.
Opportunity 2 | Turn the standard into an operating interface for brands and platforms. Restaurant chains and delivery platforms can translate the guide into procurement catalogues, store training, green-store evaluation and in-platform prompts. The voluntary standard is not itself a blanket mandatory ban, but once incorporated into procurement contracts, platform rules or internal brand controls, it may become a practical condition of supply-chain access.
Challenge 1 | Environmental claims cannot override functional boundaries. Hot, oily or liquid-rich foods and long delivery distances bring barrier performance, heat resistance, sealing and transport reliability to the forefront at the same time. Suppliers must demonstrate food-contact safety, resistance to oil, water and heat, sealing performance and leak prevention; labels such as “paper-based,” “plastic-free” or “biodegradable” are not sufficient on their own.
Challenge 2 | The end-of-life route and economics must work together. Recyclability depends on identification, sorting, separation and an actual recovery system; biodegradability depends on applicable material standards and compatible treatment conditions. The number of packaging layers, material use per meal, structural separability, viable fibre-recycling or biodegradation routes, and a cost acceptable to merchants must all appear in the same evidence framework.
Opportunity 3 | Clear openings for paper-based barriers, separable structures and sealing materials. Paper-based packaging will gain clearer application opportunities, but “paper-based” does not automatically mean environmentally preferable. The sustainable product opportunity lies in using less material to deliver the required functions for a specific SKU, while demonstrating safety, performance, end-of-life viability and cost.
The industry's real question is therefore not whether paper should replace plastic or plastic should replace paper, but whether materials, structures, store practices and end-of-life routes can be integrated into a deliverable solution.
Sources: Official interpretations of DB11/T 2246-2024 and DB11/T 2510-2026
PAPER INSIGHTS · THE FUNDAMENTALS IN NUMBERS
The core of the standard is not to dictate which material a merchant must choose, but to require every SKU to demonstrate why each packaging layer is needed and what route it will follow after use.
BIOTEN Packaging · Industry Insight · Research Note
This article was independently researched and compiled by BIOTEN Packaging using materials from the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Beijing municipal government portal, the National Public Service Platform for Standards Information, the Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China and other publicly available standards. Information was verified as of 22 August 2026. It is provided solely for research and learning concerning green packaging and related value chains and does not constitute compliance, procurement, engineering, investment, business or other decision-making advice. If you have comments concerning the content, data or rights involved, please leave a message requesting a correction, clarification or removal; we will review the request within 24 hours of receipt.
BIOTEN Observer: Data and Verification Sources
1. Beijing local-standard announcement
2. Official interpretation by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation
3. Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China
4. GB/T 43285-2023; DB11/T 2246-2024
5. Public interpretation on the Beijing municipal government portal; publicly available text of DB11/T 2246
6. Full text of the Ecological and Environmental Code; implementation information from the National People's Congress of China
