John Lewis has signed up to a collective agreement to source better packaging materials in a bid to help protect forests around the world.
The largest retailer to date to sign up to the Pack4Good initiative – run by not-for-profit Canopy – John Lewis joins previous signatories, Adidas, N Brown and Ted Baker.
Companies who sign the pledge commit to ensure none of the packaging across their textile and packaging supply chains is sourced from ancient and endangered forests.
Marija Rompani, director of sustainability and ethics at the John Lewis Partnership, said, “I’m excited that John Lewis is building on our existing work with Canopy, by now also supporting the Pack4Good initiative. We’re committed to protecting and restoring nature, and we constantly strive to reduce and improve our packaging.
“Signing up to the Pack4Good initiative is a truly positive step forward on our journey to ensuring all our paper-based packaging is from a more sustainable source.”
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Nicole Rycroft, founder and executive director, Canopy said: “We are so pleased to welcome John Lewis into the Canopy fold on Earth Day.
“There is no better time to keep forests standing and to transform today’s take-make-waste supply chains that underpin the global climate and biodiversity crises. NextGen production is the future – we’re excited to expand our community of partners working to build a better future for our planet.”
The move comes as John Lewis also removes paper delivery notes from its customer orders, which it says will save up to 26 million pieces of paper and 155 tonnes in carbon emissions.
Last year, Biffa joined forces with waste recycling firm Timberpak Ltd to offer a new closed loop circular recycling scheme for the John Lewis Partnership.
The retailer also recently secured Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA) certified cashmere across their own brand womenswear cashmere collection.
