In October 2022, the State Post Bureau officially announced that by the end of 2025, all postal and express delivery outlets nationwide will completely ban the use of non-degradable plastic tape. This policy works in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission's "Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control," requiring the express delivery industry to complete a systematic transformation from "plastic dependence" to "green transformation" within three years. First-tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing have responded proactively, with Shanghai even advancing its goal to the end of 2023, becoming the first city in the country to fully implement a "tape plastic ban."

Driven by policies, the express packaging industry is undergoing significant changes. According to data from the State Post Bureau, the volume of express delivery in China is expected to reach 174.5 billion pieces in 2024 and is projected to reach 190 billion pieces in 2025. Assuming that 10% of this is replaced by biodegradable tape, the demand will reach 23,500 tons. This trend not only forces companies to accelerate technological innovation but also gives rise to a wave of industrialization in bio-based materials.

1. BOPLA tape, many enterprises join forces for technological breakthroughs

Among the many alternatives, biaxially oriented polylactic acid film (BOPLA) has become a focal point in the industry due to its comprehensive performance advantages. This bio-based material, made from corn starch, achieves mechanical properties comparable to traditional BOPP films through a biaxial stretching process, with a longitudinal tensile strength of 119 MPa and a longitudinal elongation at break exceeding 138%, fully meeting the packaging needs of express delivery. More importantly, BOPLA can decompose into water and carbon dioxide within six months under industrial composting conditions, reducing carbon emissions by 68% compared to fossil-based materials.

The core competitiveness of BOPLA tape comes from breakthroughs in both materials and processes.

Innovation in Base Membranes: Xiamen Changsu Industry, a subsidiary of Zhonglun New Materials, has developed BOPLA® through molecular structure design and optimized stretching processes, addressing the challenges of PLA's brittleness and poor heat sealing properties. This innovation has achieved mass production with a thickness as low as 12μm and a transmittance rate exceeding 92%. Guangdong Shuyou Environmental Protection has used PLA materials from Fengyuan Biotech to mass-produce a 28μm thick degradable adhesive film, and has successfully trial-produced both biaxially stretched heat shrink films and uniaxially stretched heat shrink films. Jiangsu Xinsi Yi has independently developed BOPLA films, which have achieved stable mass production on the multifunctional biaxial stretching test line at Guilin Electric Power Research Institute, with biodegradability certified by Rhein TÜV and the Microbial Analysis and Testing Center of Guangdong Province.

Adhesive Upgrade: Anhui Huayi Packaging has developed a fully biodegradable tape that combines water-based degradable glue with bio-based film technology. The adhesive strength reaches 6.5N/25mm, with a temperature range of -20℃ to 80℃, and has obtained green product certification for express packaging.

Industrial chain collaboration: On the raw material side, high-performance PLA grades such as FY802 from Fengyuan Biological, 102 from Pulis, and 4950D from NatureWorks in the U.S. provide high-quality substrates for BOPLA through molecular weight regulation and copolymer modification. On the equipment side, Guilin Electrical Science Research Institute Co., Ltd. has accumulated rich design and manufacturing experience from small-scale testing, pilot testing to large-scale production. The BOPLA film products produced in batch trials on the production line have been validated by several domestic enterprises with "Zhong" in their names.

The market is about to explode, and enterprises are accelerating the layout of production capacity.

With the combination of policy dividends and technological maturity, the biodegradable tape market is expected to experience explosive growth in the coming years. Companies like China Post and SF Express have started to use BOPLA tape in large volumes. China Post Group Co., Ltd. has tendered for biodegradable tape in 2024, with Anhui Huayi Packaging and Wuhan Jin'angge winning the bids, totaling 100 million yuan.

Leading enterprises are accelerating capacity布局. Adhesive tape giant Yongguan New Materials is heavily investing in biodegradable adhesive materials. In March 2025, they plan to invest 380 million yuan to build a 300,000-ton biodegradable adhesive material project in Jiangxi. Anhui Huayi Packaging has launched a project for an annual production of 500 million square meters of biodegradable tape, which will achieve an annual output value of 2 billion yuan upon reaching full capacity. Sichuan Jinghua Adhesive New Materials’ Southwest base has already achieved an annual production of 400 million square meters of new adhesive materials, including biodegradable paper-based new materials; the second phase plans to add an annual capacity of 480 million square meters of biodegradable recycled materials, bringing the total capacity to 1.48 billion square meters.

Huayi Packaging Production Plant

Despite the huge potential of BOPLA, the industry still faces multiple challenges. Currently, the cost of BOPLA tape is 20%-30% higher than that of traditional products, and it needs to reduce costs through large-scale production. There is still room for performance optimization, as the water resistance and UV resistance of the adhesive need to be further improved to adapt to complex logistics environments.

The application scenarios of BOPLA are continuously expanding. In addition to express delivery tape, it can also be used in non-express delivery tape areas, such as straw packaging, disposable tableware packaging, aviation product packaging, flower packaging, and more.