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.