Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart said it has eliminated all single-use plastic packaging used across its fulfillment centres in the country. This is in line with the commitment the Bengaluru-based firm had made to move to plastic-free packaging in its own supply chain by 2021.
This has been achieved across more than 70 facilities of Flipkart spread all over India. Flipkart has eliminated single-use plastic packaging by introducing the most scalable sustainable alternatives such as eco-friendly paper shreds, replacing poly pouches with recycled paper bags, replacing bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material and 2 Ply roll to name a few. Throughout this process, Flipkart has also ensured that it is fully compliant with all EPR (extended producer responsibility) regulations and through its network of recyclers, the equivalent quantity of single-use plastic going to consumers is fully recycled.
“Moving towards 100 per cent single-use plastic elimination is one of the significant steps we have taken towards fulfilling our commitment to creating a sustainable ecosystem,” said Hemant Badri, senior vice-president and head of supply chain at Flipkart, “We achieved this while navigating a tough year impacted by Covid and are proud that our teams kept the priorities in line.”
Having achieved this milestone, Flipkart is now actively working with its seller partners who fulfil customer orders directly from their locations to educate them and enable them to move towards alternative materials. Furthermore, Flipkart is actively working with the ecosystem to understand how it can best implement other initiatives to create a more circular economy for plastics so that the entire ecosystem can move towards a more sustainable future. Through proactive interventions and guidance, Flipkart has already achieved a 27 per cent reduction in the use of single-use plastic packaging in its seller fulfillments.
“We are now focused on enabling our seller ecosystem to adopt sustainable packaging alternatives as well, and to create positive environmental and social impact across the entire supply chain,” said Badri.
Some of the other key initiatives by Flipkart include ‘E-commerce ready packaging’, where Flipkart has been able to ship close to 15 per cent of products without adding a secondary layer of packaging. Flipkart’s aim is to reduce the need for an outer layer by working with brands across apparel, electronics and home furnishings to ship their products in the original manufacturer and brand packaging. Flipkart is also working towards making sure that the packaging used does not cause any deforestation by scaling packaging from recycled and alternative materials.
These efforts will further strengthen Flipkart’s commitment to sustainable solutions for packaging and realize its vision of holistic, sustainable growth. In order to transition towards a low carbon economy, Flipkart has also committed to a 100 per cent transition to electric vehicles in its city logistics network by 2030.