Authorities in Beijing have announced the release of the city's first batch of local standards for 2026, covering a wide range of sectors including public health, low-carbon initiatives, urban development, and ecological protection.
Among the 51 new standards issued by 23 different departments are five pioneering national firsts. These address areas such as reducing packaging for food delivery, constructing road perception infrastructure, providing online prenatal care services, developing low-carbon smart logistics parks, and building a garden city.
The standards are designed to support high-quality urban development and enhance the quality of life for residents.
A key focus is on pollution reduction and carbon emission cuts. The nation's first local standard, the "Guidelines for the Use of Green Packaging by Catering and Food Delivery Merchants," offers multi-dimensional advice on design reduction, reuse, recycling, and energy recovery.
It establishes four core principles: safety, reduction, easy recyclability or biodegradability, and reusability, providing clear operational guidance for businesses.
Merchants are encouraged to select packaging sizes appropriate to their food items to minimize empty space and reduce packaging waste at the source. For example, buns and flatbreads are suited for bag packaging, while items like hamburgers and sandwiches should use fewer layers.
Pizzas and cakes are recommended for paper containers, and stir-fried dishes with minimal sauce are advised to use packaging with simple seals. Barbecued items can be wrapped directly in aluminum foil paired with a sealing bag.
For ambient or chilled food packaging, the standard suggests avoiding unnecessary plastic cling film for sealing.
The guidelines also recommend reducing the printed area on packaging and avoiding functional redundancy, such as not using non-woven fabric bags when insulation is not required.
Food delivery businesses are advised not to proactively provide single-use utensils and to encourage consumers to reuse delivery packaging in ways that avoid direct food contact. This standard is set to take effect on September 1st.
Regarding urban ecological improvement, the "Garden City Construction Guidelines," another national first as a local standard, outlines six dimensions for development: ecological foundation, livable environment, public welfare, cityscape, safety resilience, and collaborative development.
It aims to integrate greenery and floral elements into the cityscape, guiding Beijing in establishing a new framework for garden city development.
To support the construction of a global digital economy hub, the first local "Specifications for Graded Construction of Urban Road Perception Facilities" standard clarifies the structural components, grading methods, and construction requirements for such infrastructure.
Based on four core capabilities—perception monitoring, data analysis, intensive reuse, and collaborative services—the standard categorizes road perception facilities into five levels, from basic to intelligent.
It details 27 monitoring scenarios across 9 categories, including traffic violation monitoring, traffic flow monitoring, road environment monitoring, and vehicle-infrastructure coordination. For different grades of road sections and intersections, it specifies corresponding configuration standards and capability requirements for perception facilities.
The implementation of this specification is expected to drive the development of Beijing's urban road perception infrastructure toward greater integration, efficiency, and intelligence, preventing redundant construction and resource waste while enabling cross-departmental and cross-regional facility sharing and scenario coordination to maximize application value.
In the area of public health, the pioneering local "Specifications for Internet-based Prenatal Care Services" standard leverages the authoritative role of medical institutions to provide pregnant women with scientific, actionable health information and consultation throughout their pregnancy.
This initiative aims to improve access to medical services, enhance the patient experience, and reduce healthcare costs.
Comments