Single-use plastic packaging to be scraped in India by Amazon, Flipkart, airports and more
India is a country of more than 1.5 billion people. With internet penetration high in metropolitan cities and increasing rapidly throughout the rest of the country, along with e-commerce platforms providing a wider and often cost-effective range of products, the market is huge. There are more than thousands of deliveries everyday.
Couple of weeks ago when I was in India, I myself ordered everything I wanted from Amazon. When it delivered, it left a bad taste in my mouth because each and every item came separately packaged in a single-use, tear and open plastic bag, with more plastic inside. For a few of them the plastic package was 3x bigger than required. I couldn't help but remark on how wasteful that was.
Now, I'm about to share some of the best news I've heard all week — Amazon and Flipkart have pledged to scrap their use of single-use plastic packaging.
More specifically, Amazon India has announced that it will replace all single use plastic with paper cushions by June 2020. A few days ago, Flipkart (owned by Walmart) announced that it has already cut down the use of single-use plastic by 25 percent, and plans to only use recycled plastic in its own supply chain by March 2021.
“Paper cushions will be used to fill the void space inside packages to ensure that the product is well protected in transit."Amazon India
Furthermore, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India intends to implement a nationwide ban on single use plastics on October 2, the birth anniversary of Indian independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Reports suggest that as many as 6 single-use plastic items would face a ban, including plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets.
"I urge the startup founders, technicians and industrialists to find ways to recycle plastic."Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
And as per Indian government estimates, 70% of the plastic consumed in the country is discarded in trash, while there are no proper waste processing in most cities.
That's not all! The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has now announced 20 additional airports to become "Single-Use Plastic Free Airport Terminals", taking the number to 55 — that is over half of the airports in India. Earlier, it had made a commitment to make 20 more airports single-use plastic free within 100 days from the formation of the new government. The EU is also planning to put a similar ban in place.
Nearly 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated in India every day, making it the 15th biggest plastic polluter in the world.
“E-commerce companies are the ones creating all this waste, so the onus of recycling it has to be put on them as well."C.K. Mishra, India's environment secretary told Economic Times
Single-use plastic are an extreme danger to the health of marine life and maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Scientific reports earlier this year found microplastics in the systems of aquatic life living in the deepest parts of the pacific ocean, highlighting the urgency of curbing plastic use and improving proper processing of waste. These steps in the second most populous country in the world will promote a shift in the consumption behaviour. We are looking forward to this.
