北京市外卖包装指南发布：绿色包装该怎么选？

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.