India Serves as a Testing Ground for Scalable Solutions, Says Swetha Ramdas
Swetha Ramdas, principal, APAC sustainability, Amazon tells Sudipto Dey in an email interview that the company is delivering orders with reduced or no packaging in over 300 cities in India. Edited excerpts
Amazon signed The Climate Pledge as part of its decarbonisation and net-zero transition. How does it align with plans to make Amazon India’s packaging sustainable?
At Amazon India, sustainability is deeply tied to our broader commitment of reaching net-zero by 2040 under The Climate Pledge and packaging is one of the areas where we are making a visible difference.
We have taken a significant step where nearly half of customer orders in India are now shipped from its fulfilment network in their original packaging, with just an address label added by Amazon, or with reduced packaging.
Responding to this, we have rapidly scaled our ‘Ships in Product Packaging’ programme, increasing orders shipped without added packaging by over 80% since 2021.
Alongside, we have made significant strides in eliminating single-use plastic. Since replacing thin-film single-use plastic with paper and cardboard-based packaging in 2019, we have avoided 9,100 metric tonne of plastic packaging in India.
Today, we are making deliveries with reduced or no packaging in over 300 cities across India, a significant leap from just nine cities in 2019, and this continues to grow.
Are there any India-specific innovations that have been tried and tested in other markets?
India plays a pivotal role in Amazon’s global sustainable-packaging roadmap, serving as both an innovation hub and a testing ground for scalable solutions. Many of the sustainable-packaging practices developed and implemented here are now influencing Amazon’s global efforts.
India was also among the first regions where Amazon replaced thin-film single-use plastic with paper and cardboard-based alternatives. Since implementing these changes in 2020, Amazon India has avoided using more than 9,100 metric tonnes of plastic. Innovations like packing paper, paper cushions are also being studied and adapted across other markets.
Moreover, Amazon’s leadership role as a founding member of the India Plastics Pact reflects its commitment to systemic change, promoting a shift from a linear to a circular-plastics economy.
We want to empower companies across all industries to take steps to decarbonise and develop sustainable operations
What does the future of packaging look like at Amazon India?
Over the next 3–5 years, we will continue to focus on simplifying packaging, reducing waste and increasing the use of recyclable and reusable materials across our India operations.
We will continue scaling programmes that avoid adding Amazon packaging altogether—like shipping in original manufacturer packaging or using paper mailers for shipping small and mid-sized products and corrugate boxes—which is already being used to deliver in over 300 cities. We also plan to build on the progress made with paper-based alternatives.
We are working with industry partners and government-led platforms to shape sustainable packaging practices. As customer expectations and environmental regulations evolve, our packaging innovation will continue to balance protection, efficiency and sustainability.
How is Amazon preparing to comply with the government’s Environment Protection (Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging) Rules, 2024?
We are closely tracking the upcoming regulations set to take effect in April 2026 and are aligning our operations to meet these requirements. Amazon already has systems and processes in place to manage single-use plastic packaging waste responsibly and continues to strengthen its internal reporting and data collection processes.
How will you align supply-chain partners and vendors with this mid- to long-term roadmap?
Amazon launched Sustainability Exchange last year, which makes proprietary decarbonisation resources available to all, for free, to accelerate supply-chain decarbonisation.
We want to empower companies across all industries, of all sizes—from small businesses to large multi-national organisations and global companies—to take steps to decarbonise and develop sustainable operations, regardless of where they are in their sustainability journey.
What are your other projects that focus on eliminating plastic pollution?
One great example of our initiatives beyond operational decarbonisation is the Right Now Climate Fund (RNCF). We launched Amazon’s Mumbai Mangrove Project, supported by RNCF, in February this year.
Mumbai harbour and the Thane Creek which feeds it host more than 180 species of birds. It provides a stop on the coastal Asian flyway for roughly one million migratory birds each season, including 1,80,000 near-threatened flamingos.
Several factors threaten the habitat, plastic pollution being one of them. In tandem with mangrove restoration, the project will tackle the issue of plastic waste by installing trash booms [barriers], alongside a clean-up effort to remove plastic waste.