Ecommerce companies Flipkart, Amazon may face a repackaging challenge

BENGALURU: Ecommerce companies such as Flipkart, Amazon and BigBasket will have to find alternatives to single-use plastic, as the government is likely to restrict its use for packaging from October 2.

The government is also thinking of ways to make ecommerce companies recycle the waste that they generate. This will, in turn, push these companies to come up with alternative packaging materials quickly.

“They (ecommerce companies) are the ones creating all this waste, so the onus of recycling it has to be put on them as well,” said environment secretary CK Mishra, without confirming whether the government was indeed proposing to ban single-use plastics. “It’s all about reduction of waste, and then, they gradually need to move towards alternative packaging.”

Last Thursday, Walmart-owned Flipkart said it had already reduced use of single-use plastic by 25% and has set a target of using 100% recycled plastic by March 2021.

 
The homegrown etailer has also filed for an extended producer responsibility (EPR), aiming to collect back 30% of the waste it generates in the first year.

EPR is a policy approach where producers are responsible for treating or disposing waste after the sale of products.

Several other ecommerce companies, including Amazon and Big-Basket, are also trying to reduce the use of single-use plastic. Big-Basket has stopped using them to package products in Bengaluru, which has banned the use of such plastics altogether.

“Creating alternatives for singleuse plastic packaging is one of the significant steps we have taken towards fulfilling our commitment to create a sustainable ecosystem. Our long-term vision is to eliminate the use of plastic and maximise the use of recycled and renewable materials,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy, group CEO of Flipkart, said in a statement last week.

Mishra said the ecommerce firms will need to create awareness among consumers, set up mechanisms for waste collection and ensure proper recycling, to hit their ambitious targets.

Cashback Strategy
Citizen engagement platform LocalCircles found in a recent survey that cashbacks — which ecommerce firms have used successfully to grow business — could nudge consumers to be more responsible with plastics use.

LocalCircles found that 92% of consumers in a survey of over 10,000 respondents were willing to return ecommerce packaging plastic for a small cashback, and 89% were willing to do so for cardboard packaging boxes.