Inditex, the parent company of major fashion brands including Zara, Bershka and Massimo Dutti, has joined non-profit Canopy’s Pack4Good campaign to reform its paper packaging.

Inditex’s decade-long commitment to eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in its textiles has now expanded to ensure these vital forests are not ending up in its paper packaging.

The fashion sector is a major consumer of paper for shipping boxes, e-commerce envelopes, paper bags, hang tags and paperboard boxes.

As a Pack4Good partner, Inditex will continue building on existing initiatives to reduce the amount of packaging it uses, including employing reusable boxes for intra-business use, increasing recycled paper content, and incorporating next-generation fibres into its paper packaging. Alternatives to wood fibre for paper include plentiful materials around the world that are commonly wasted or burned, such as cereal straws, hemp stalks, jute or tomato stems.

Canopy executive director Nicole Rycroft commented: “A company of Inditex’s significance sends a signal to paper packaging suppliers that it’s time to give forests a break and to invest in and scale lower impact alternatives.”

Inditex chief sustainability officer Javier Losada added: “We look forward to continuing this work with Canopy to bring it to a new level, including the development of next-gen alternatives that both reduce waste and help keep forests standing,”

The addition of Inditex brings the Pack4Good initiative to 449 brands, worth more than $287.4bn in annual revenue.

The company has previously implemented its Green to Pack programme for reusing warehouse-to-retail paper boxes up to five times before sending them for recycling, alongside its #BRINGYOURBAG initiative, to encourage reuse by applying a fee for paper bags and envelopes in 70 markets.

Inditex has also made a public commitment to purchase 2000 tonnes of the first commercial-scale circular MMCF (man-made cellulosic fibre) pulp.