Flipkart Group, India’s homegrown consumer Internet ecosystem including Flipkart and Myntra, announced its commitment to responsible sourcing in collaboration with not-for-profit environmental organization Canopy.
Flipkart and Myntra said they recognize the role of the world’s forests in maintaining climate stability, preserving biodiversity, and protecting the rights of Indigenous communities. The companies have joined Canopy’s Pack4Good and CanopyStyle initiatives to extend their sustainability commitment to move toward sustainable packaging and material sourcing.
Recently, they also announced a shift away from single-use plastics in their packaging with the introduction of scalable sustainable alternatives such as eco-friendly paper shreds, replacing polyester pouches with recycled paper bags and replacing bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material.
As signatories of Canopy’s Pack4Good packaging and CanopyStyle fashion initiatives, the two Flipkart Group companies will shift toward sustainable sourcing of forest-derived products to transition away from forests for raw materials.
“India has incredible potential to be a global leader in the production of Next Gen packaging and clothing and this partnership with Flipkart and Myntra turbo charges efforts to scale these climate-saving solutions on a meaningful timeline,” said Nicole Rycroft, executive director at Canopy. “We applaud Flipkart Group’s leadership and look forward to collaborating with them to realize these ambitious goals.”
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For this commitment, Flipkart and Myntra will focus over the next three years on exploring sourcing or designing of reusable/refillable shipping boxes to reduce corrugated paper and paperboard; encourage the use of recycled, reusable and/or FSC certified paper and packaging, as well as sourcing products with responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibers. They will also design and implement e-commerce, shipping, display and wrapping systems that minimize the use of packaging materials; increase utilization of recycled materials in packaging; utilize reusable packaging systems for intra business applications and increase the use of digital communication, marketing and accounting systems.
In addition, the companies will adopt best practices such as researching and applying emerging and circular economy innovations. and increasing the use of responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fiber for in-house products including rayon/viscose, lyocel, and modal.
“Flipkart, as a homegrown e-commerce marketplace, is committed to creating a sustainable environment by sourcing responsibly while creating sustainable alternatives for business needs,” Hemant Badri, senior vice president and head of supply chain at Flipkart, said. “In this endeavor, we are so pleased to be joining both CanopyStyle and the Pack4Good initiatives in order to save the world’s ancient and endangered forests. We look forward to a close collaboration that will allow us to open up a new sourcing stream for packaging and fuel change in other key operational areas as well, inculcating sustainability initiatives in logistics, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and more.”
Flipkart has a registered customer base of more than 350 million, offering over 150 million products across 80-plus categories.
Neetu Jotwani, vice president and head of sourcing at Myntra, said the company is committed to sustainability and initiatives that reduce carbon footprint “while encouraging recycling across the entire supply chain and manufacturing processes to make them more eco-friendly.”
Canopy is dedicated to protecting forests, species and climate. It has collaborated with more than 750 companies to develop cutting-edge environmental policies that transform unsustainable supply chains, spark innovative solutions, and protect our world’s remaining Ancient and Endangered Forests.