The way to sustainable packaging for India

When it comes to packaging, sustainable materials must function as well as alternative packaging. Because the safety of the packaged product is paramount, the packaging's durability becomes critical. How can the durability of the packaging be ensured along with sustainability?

With a significant increase in the movement of goods from one part of the country to another, having sustainable and durable alternative packaging becomes imperative for its widespread adoption.

At Flipkart, the sustainable packaging program has been developed taking into account the end-to-end process behind shipping the product from one warehouse to another and ultimately to the customer’s doorstep. The packaging is designed accordingly, with customized layouts, catering to durability, size constraints, and cost-efficiency. By choosing sustainable packaging material with the right dimensions and weight, we can ensure product endurance and durability.

We started with small scale pilots to understand the efficacy of our packaging product, seller and customer feedback and the robustness of our suppliers. The outcome was then incorporated into our performance data and necessary areas in the value chain were fine-tuning, making the program more robust and helping us scale up significantly.

Flipkart has achieved a milestone of 100 percent elimination of plastic packaging and adoption of sustainable packaging alternatives across the supply chain. What should be the approach to achieve 100 percent elimination of plastic packaging and adoption of sustainable packaging in India?

There has been an increasing focus from consumers, governments, brands, packaging producers on collective action to shift towards environmentally friendly solutions and better waste management practices.

Some of the quick wins that have helped most stakeholders have been reducing the quantity of plastic used in packaging, improving recyclability and innovations in materials used. These solutions will help reduce our impact on our ecosystems. However, to derive long-term value for a positive impact on the planet, there has to be a reconsideration of the packaging design itself to suit diverse applications. Packaging in the coming years needs to be more functional, designed to be recyclable and reusable and regenerative in nature. It also necessitates the creation of a fledgling ecosystem across the value chain and strengthening the public-private recycling infrastructure across the country to support the scale-up of sustainable packaging.

Collaboration of the big firms with the small sellers can be decisive in implementing sustainable packaging at the grassroots level. What should be done in regards to this issue and how?

To implement sustainable packaging at the grass-root level, collaboration becomes the key. For example - Flipkart has been driving several initiatives towards its vision of sustainable growth and is actively working with seller partners, who fulfil customer orders directly from their locations, to educate and enable them to move towards sustainable alternative materials.

Additionally, in July this year, more than 75% of our seller fulfilled shipments have also now been processed in sustainable packaging marking a 20x increase over July 2020 and the initiative today covers more than 700 hubs across India. We have taken various steps in this journey, including analysing and studying circular economy models, looking at ways for packaging optimization, creating standards on packaging materials to reduce waste in our supply chain, promoting reusable materials, while encouraging green packaging.

This milestone was achieved by introducing 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, we have ensured that we engage with all our stakeholders and most importantly with all our seller partners not only in the adoption of these materials but also in the design and development of these solutions.

What is your thought about the future of sustainable packaging in India?

Sustainable packing is fast gaining importance among companies, as consumers increasingly look for products that are eco-friendly. As consumers and brands around the world continue to turn their attention to sustainability, packaging will remain high on the agenda.

We expect further growth of optimised packaging systems that ensure minimal wastage of resources. while at the same time, the use of new-age materials such as agricultural residue for creating packaging is likely to be adopted well by the industry. There will be an increased focus on a higher degree of recyclability and reusability in packaging materials, thereby promoting circular packaging systems. The circularity of packaging materials wherein all packaging can be upcycled into other products instead of going to landfills is inevitable, with refillable & returnable packaging emerging as a trend to watch out for. Sustainable design that will do away with the need to add a secondary layer of packaging for a product or use materials that can be repurposed for other use cases is sure to be the course of action in the coming years.