Myntra steps up its sustainability game, eliminates single-use plastic packaging

During the ongoing Myntra Big Fashion Festival, bubble wraps, plastic cello tapes and polycovers have been replaced with shredded materials and paper tapes/covers/boxes.

In an attempt to reduce plastic waste, Myntra, India’s leading fashion and lifestyle e-commerce brand, has implemented plastic-free packaging for its ongoing edition of Big Fashion Festival that is being held from October 3-10.

In addition to its own supply chain, Myntra’s seller partners have also adopted the green packaging defined by the platform. This milestone is a significant outcome of the efforts initiated by Myntra towards aligning its seller partners, and helping them with a transition path to gradually adopt sustainable packaging alternatives.

Myntra has introduced sustainable alternatives for packaging and delivery. These include replacing poly pouches with recycled paper bags, bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material, plastic adhesive tapes with paper tapes, polybags used for attaching customer invoices with a recycled Kraft paper pouch and RFID-tagged multi-use polyester bags.

According to the brand, this move has led to the diversion of 670 tonnes of plastic, as of September 2021. It has been achieved as a result of the commitment of multiple in-house teams and their methodical approach, involving several months of suitable material and process exploration, and collaboration with several ecosystem stakeholders.

In doing so, Myntra has tried to ensure that these solutions are affordable and scalable for its seller partners. The project was undertaken with numerous educational webinars and training sessions conducted to help vendor partners implement the new paper packaging system across the country.

Myntra equipped its seller portals to enable the sellers to place orders directly for the bags, to facilitate faster adoption. To ensure 100 per cent adoption, a unique QR code scanning was implemented for each bag to prevent any inadvertent use of plastic bags, instead of paper bags.

Myntra has also ensured that all of its fulfillment centres are equipped with the right technology and adequate infrastructure, including machine customisation to carry out the goal of sustainable packaging in its entirety.

Another key initiative by Myntra, along with its partners, is ‘e-commerce-ready packaging’. It is is a sustainable program aimed at doing away with the need for a secondary layer of packaging in e-commerce shipments permanently, and shipping products directly in primary packaging.

Speaking on this milestone achievement, Amar Nagaram, CEO, Myntra, said, “We place a strong emphasis on sustainable and responsible business practices. Myntra has been emphatic in its mission of going plastic-free. Packaging offers a visible and tangible indication of our commitment to creating a sustainable ecosystem. Moving towards a 100 per cent elimination of single-use plastic is a major step and a significant milestone in the direction of sustainable practices...”

Another key initiative by Myntra earlier this year was partnering with Canopy, a not-for-profit environmental organisation, to ensure that the packaging used does not encourage deforestation, by scaling packaging from recycled and alternative materials.

Myntra has also partnered with the Better Cotton Initiative, a sustainability program that aims to make cotton farming sustainable. Last year, Myntra announced that two of its fulfillment centres are now solar power-enabled.