Flipkart and Myntra have collaborated with Canopy to support approaches and systems to eliminate the use of materials derived from ancient and endangered forests in its use of packaging, paper or man-made cellulosic fibers.
July 22, 2021
Flipkart Group, India’s homegrown consumer internet ecosystem including Flipkart, and Myntra, one of India’s leading fashion and lifestyle destinations, announcing its commitment to responsible sourcing of sustainable packaging and man-made cellulosic fibers in collaboration with not-for-profit environmental organization Canopy.
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Flipkart and Myntra 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 towards sustainable packaging and material sourcing. Recently, they also announced a shift away from single-use plastics in their packaging with the introduction of 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.
As signatories of Canopy’s Pack4Good (packaging) and CanopyStyle (fashion) initiatives, the two Flipkart Group companies will shift towards sustainable sourcing of forest-derived products and pilot alternative next-generation solutions to transition away from forests for raw materials. For this commitment, Flipkart and Myntra will focus on the following activities over the next three years:
- Exploring sourcing or designing of reusable/refillable shipping boxes to reduce corrugated paper and paperboard
- Encouraging the use of recycled, reusable and/or FSC certified paper and packaging as well as sourcing products with responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibres
- 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
- Increase the use of digital communication, marketing and accounting systems
- Adopt best practices including researching and applying emerging and circular economy innovations.
- Increasing the use of responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibre for in-house products including rayon/viscose, lyocell, and modal
“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.”
Also Read: Flipkart Achieves 100% Single-Use Plastic Elimination Packaging Throughout its Supply Chain.
Hemant Badri, Senior Vice-President and Head of Supply Chain at Flipkart said, “Flipkart as a homegrown e-commerce marketplace is committed to creating a sustainable environment by sourcing responsibly while creating sustainable alternatives for business needs. In this endeavour, 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 will fuel change in other key operational areas as well, inculcating sustainability initiatives in logistics, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and more.”
Neetu Jotwani, Vice-President and Head of Sourcing, Myntra, said, “Myntra is committed to sustainability and has always been at the forefront of industry-first initiatives that reduce carbon footprint while encouraging recycling across the entire supply chain and manufacturing processes to make them more eco-friendly. This association with Canopy and the adoption of CanopyStyle for fashion and Pack4Good for packaging is a major step towards our goal of further eliminating single plastic use and increasing environment-friendly practices.”
Responsible forestry and ensuring there is no sourcing from the world’s Ancient and Endangered Forests is a critical step toward sustainability and this policy will successfully aid the Flipkart Group’s mission. With Canopy’s support, it will continue to transform supply chains into life-affirming value chains.
