Adarsh Menon of Flipkart highlights sustainable plans

On day one, Adarsh Menon of Flipkart Wholesale and Walmart India talked about sustainable commitments in his welcome address at the 2nd edition of the Sustainability Action Summit 2021. What is of enormous import for the Indian packaging industry, when Menon highlighted how Flipkart has eliminated the use of single-use plastic from every single Flipkart warehouse in India.

19 Nov 2021 | By Charmiane Alexander

Adarsh Menon: A major milestone that we've achieved this year was the elimination of single-use plastics across all our warehouses in the country

Adarsh Menon said, "One of the major milestones that we've achieved this year was the elimination of single-use plastics across all our warehouses in the country." He added, "We are now working towards expanding these efforts, to a much larger network and marketplace sellers. The next frontier has been to build a circular  economy for packaging, with the help of our seller partners and the broader ecosystem for a more sustainable future.

In addition, Menon talked about the adoption of electric vehicles in Flipkart's last mile logistics. The eCommerce player has been scaled up to more than 2000+ electric vehicles. Flipkart has incorporated green building principles in its buildings. Menon said, "Now we have 10 solar powered facilities across our warehouses, data centres and  offices."

Menon, also, referred to the COP26 (Conference of the Parties) summit in Glasgow as "a masterclass". He said, "The recently conducted  COP26 has been a masterclass in nations rising up to the challenge of climate change and proposing audacious goals around mitigating and adapting to climate related emergencies. India has stepped up with the new climate pledge at COP26 ambitious targets announced on emissions reduction, renewable energy and net zero."

He added, "These targets will provide a guiding signal to every industry and underline the need for corporate climate action plans in order to build resilience. At Flipkart, we've seen a journey in our adoption of sustainability initiatives from electric, renewable energy practices to green buildings."

Menon hoped Flipkart will continue to support "our communities and our planet in a meaningful way". He concluded his talk by stating, "We know that we have a long way to go, but we certainly would not have been here without the collective action of our entire communities of consumers, sellers, suppliers and employees."

Adarsh Menon is a seasoned sales and marketing professional with over 19 years of experience. He joined Flipkart in 2015 after a 12-year stint in Hindustan Unilever. At Flipkart, Menon has just moved to start-up & lead the new b2b business - an exciting new charter that aims to drive growth & prosperity to millions of kiranas as well as MSMEs in India. In this role, he heads Walmart India - an acquisition made by the Flipkart group to enter the b2b space, and Flipkart Wholesale which is an e-commerce b2b marketplace.