Commerce platforms commit to go plastic-free

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us face to face with new challenges in tackling plastic pollution. These include the availability of certain materials with suppliers, inability to test new materials and closure of sorting and recycling centres in the markets. Yet, we need to remain as committed as ever to shifting to a circular economy for plastics.

Plastic is incredibly valuable. It assists in getting products to consumers efficiently and securely. It might be the option with the lowest carbon footprint. Yet, far too much plastic ends up in our environment. According to a global research report, the flow of plastic could triple by 2040. This has to stop because we dream of a plastic free world and believe zero waste is the way to get there.
“Despite difficult conditions, we will not turn our backs on plastic pollution. It is important for us and for the rest of our industry. Our larger aim is to chop the number of plastic we have a tendency to use and quickly transition to a circular economy,” says Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever. The corporate took a step further and developed a framework: Less Plastic. Better Plastic. No Plastic.“Whenever we use plastic, we ensure we are choosing better options – recycled and recyclable plastics. We make sure to keep plastics in our system and out of the environment, by buying post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. We are ramping up what proportion recycled plastic we have a tendency to use and around 11 per cent of our plastic footprint is from PCR today. This will provide us a push to achieve 25 per cent by 2025.”
A number of stores and corporations are tackling challenges and moving towards an improved plastic journey. They are trying to improvise novel ways of working that embrace chemical exercise of plastic that is hardest to recycle. Recycled plastic packaging conjointly has got to meet constant technical and safety standards as virgin plastic, particularly within the case of food packaging.It is hard to achieve our ‘better plastic’ goals unless there is enough high-quality post-consumer recycled material available.
Zero waste stores in India – from Dehradun to Chennai – will facilitate abandoning single-use plastics in everyday groceries. During the COVID-19-induced lockdowns, several online zero waste stores surfaced and offered plastic-free deliveries. The zero waste movement is slowly gaining momentum in India. A slew of bulk outlets, refill stores, zero waste essential outlets and sustainable living brands have conjointly also popped up in both the online and the physical retail sphere.
Green mantra
“We cut plastic packaging at the source to prevent plastic from going to the landfill,” said Debayani, Co-founder of Green Mantra.
It has been exciting to witness the evolution of zero waste stores in Bangalore, where Green Mantra, situated in Marathahalli, carries packaging-free, preservatives-free groceries, and offers home-refills of spices, food and even dosa batter. Their home refill model makes going zero-waste a lot easier.
Green Mantra co-founders Debayani, Prachee and Shikha’s collective love for the environment encouraged them to start Green Mantra and unfold the message of a simple, affordable, accessible, and eco-friendly lifestyle.

EcoIndian zero- waste store

“It was difficult to persuade the customers to carry their own bags and containers in the beginning. However, we have successfully built a small community, the members of that have started caring about nature over the past few years.” – Prem Anthony
Founded by childhood friends Prem Anthony and Pradeep Kumar, EcoIndian flagged as an organic grocery store, but pivoted to a zero waste model after the plastic ban in Chennai. They stock everything, from regular groceries to dips and snacks in reusable glass bottles or compostable paper packaging – this act as an inspiration for many in the city to shop more consciously.

Assav organics

“As soldiers, we have defended the motherland. Now we need to defend Mother Earth by improvising a sustainable world.” – Lt Col Arvind Rawat (Retd) Started by Lt Col Rawat, Assav Organics has ushered in a new phase of acutely aware consumption movement in Dehradun. Lt Col Arvind’s journey as an organic farmer gradually led him to set up a prominent zero waste store in Dehradun.

Revolutionary e-commerce destination- Flipkart

E-commerce platform, Flipkart proclaimed in July 2021 that it has eliminated all single-use plastic packaging used across its centres in the country, in accordance with the commitment it had made in 2019 to manoeuvre to plastic-free packaging in its supply chain by 2022. This has been achieved in more than 70 facilities of Flipkart as of now, where it has eliminated single-use plastic packaging by introducing sustainable alternatives such as eco-friendly paper shreds, replacing polythene pouches with recycled paper bags and bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material and ply rolls.
“At Flipkart, we largely emphasise on sustainable and responsible business practices. Acing towards 100 per cent single-use plastic elimination is one of the significant steps we have taken towards fulfilling our commitment in creating a sustainable ecosystem. We managed to achieve this while navigating a tough year impacted by COVID-19 and are proud that our teams kept the priorities in check. We are now dedicated on enabling our seller ecosystem to adopt sustainable packaging solutions as well, and to create positive environmental and social impacts across the entire supply chain,” said Hemant Badri, senior vice-president and head of supply chain, Flipkart.
Some of the other key initiatives that have been taken by Flipkart so far, include ‘E-commerce ready packaging’, where it has been able to ship approximatey 15 per cent of products without adding a secondary layer of packaging. This one-stop destination for shopping aims to reduce the need for an outer layer by working with brands across apparels, electronics and home furnishings to ship in their brand packaging.
The Centre had notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021, prohibiting the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of several single-use plastic items from July 1, 2022.
In June 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced that India will eliminate all single-use plastic items in the country by 2022. A statement issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change also informed that single-use plastic items such as earbuds, balloons, ice-creams and candies with plastic sticks, plastic flags and thermocol used for decoration purposes will be banned from the period specified by PM Modi.
The use of plastic items with a thickness of less than 100 microns such as plates, cups, glasses and wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards and cigarette packets, as well as cutlery products like forks, spoons, knives, straw and trays, will also be forbidden.”
“Pollution due to single-use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries,” the Ministry said. “At the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly held in 2019, India had piloted a resolution on addressing single-use plastic products pollution, recognising the urgent need for the global community to focus on this very important issue.”
Going low on waste does not mean that we have to clean out our entire kitchen or bathroom and make room for sustainable products. The idea of the zero waste movement is to reduce what we waste or throw out. That means using what we have for the longest time possible, then replacing it with a greener alternative.