Grocery Delivery Platform BigBasket Eliminates Plastic Packaging
bigbasket, India’s largest online supermarket, has been spearheading the drive for sustainability in e-commerce operations in India. Marking the World Environment Day, the platform has now become India’s first brand to offer packaging-free doorstep delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Single use plastics used in packaging, especially for fruits and vegetables, is one of the major contributors to environmental damage. To address this challenge, bigbasket has taken the unprecedented step of eliminating plastic packaging from its fruit and vegetables delivery services. The new service has been unveiled as pilot project and bigbasket aims to completely remove packaging from its fruits and vegetables delivery pan India by 2023.
Speaking about this, Seshu Kumar Tirumala, National Head-Buying and Merchandising, bigbasket, said, “bigbasket is a brand with multi-dimensional approach towards sustainability. We have been observing how a lot of single-use plastic is used in packaging of fresh foods, and by eliminating it, a significant damage to the environment can be prevented. We have launched packaging-free delivery of fruits and vegetables in selected locations. Going forward, we will gradually increase the coverage to make it pan India. As we grow year-on-year, our focus is on expanding our efforts towards sustainability in as many ways as possible. On World Environment Day, we are extremely thankful to our customers who have supported bigbasket’s journey and our green initiatives.”
Apart from the new packaging free fruit and vegetables delivery, bigbasket has also been at the forefront of several other eco-friendly initiatives. For instance, the company was the first brand in its category to introduce EVs for delivery. Currently, 30% of bigbasket’s delivery fleet is electric and the company aims to have 70% EVs by 2024. It is also using solar energy across its warehouses in 9 cities and generating enough clean energy to power over 4.5 lakh households*. Further, bigbasket’s biomass-powered cooling systems consume less than 10% of power compared to conventional refrigeration, further leading to reduction in greenhouse gases emissions.
The holistic nature of bigbasket’s sustainability efforts goes beyond just air pollution. The company has also built rainwater harvesting systems that save up to 390,000 litres of water annually. Another highly impactful initiative is the widespread organic farming partnerships. As a responsible brand, bigbasket is steadily promoting organic farming by partnering with cultivators and supporting them through initiatives like geotagging, offering agri-intelligence
on weather, soil and growing conditions, government schemes and organizing sessions to familiarize them with best tech-driven farming practices. This leads to greater earning and life quality for the farming communities across India and a much superior soil conservation for future generations.
