E-commerce major Flipkart Group and fashion e-tailer Myntra on Thursday said they have partnered with not-for-profit environmental organisation Canopy to extend their sustainability commitment to move towards sustainable packaging and material sourcing. 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, a statement said.

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"Flipkart and Myntra recognise the role of the world's forests in maintaining climate stability, preserving biodiversity, and protecting the rights of Indigenous communities," it added. Flipkart and Myntra will, over the next three years, focus on activities like exploring sourcing/designing of reusable/refillable shipping boxes to reduce corrugated paper and paperboard, and encouraging the use of recycled, reusable and/or FSC-certified paper and packaging.

The partnership will also focus on sourcing products with responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibres. The partners will also look at designing and implementing e-commerce, shipping, display and wrapping systems that minimise the use of packaging materials, increasing utilisation of recycled materials in packaging, and utilising reusable packaging systems for intra business applications.

Flipkart and Myntra will also increase the use of digital communication, marketing and accounting systems, adopt best practices including researching and applying emerging and circular economy innovations, and increase the use of responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibre for in-house products including rayon/viscose, lyocell, and modal, the statement said.

The two e-commerce platforms have recently announced a shift away from single-use plastics in their packaging with the introduction of scalable sustainable alternatives like eco-friendly paper shreds, replacing poly pouches with recycled paper bags, replacing bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material and 2 Ply roll among other measures.

"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," Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director at Canopy, said.

Hemant Badri, Senior Vice-President and Head of Supply Chain at Flipkart, said the company is committed to creating a sustainable environment by sourcing responsibly while creating sustainable alternatives for business needs. "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, he added.

Myntra Vice-President and Head of Sourcing Neetu Jotwani said the association with Canopy and the adoption of CanopyStyle for fashion and Pack4Good for packaging is a major step towards its goal of further eliminating single plastic use and increasing environment-friendly practices.