June 09, 2006
The new consumer. She’s making companies concerned.
The Independent, UK, in a recent article notes that companies are now more concerned than ever about environmental issues.
The smart ones know they have to be, because their consumers are driving them to thinking.
“Shoppers are becomingly increasingly frustrated by the voluminous packaging that fills their bins when they unwrap food.
That irritation has been picked up in research. Consumers shouldering the hassle and moral unease about generating this vast, obvious waste could choose to patronise street markets that are cheaper and less wasteful.
Consumers aren’t just annoyed because packaging is awkward, many are worried about the environment. And big companies are only too aware that, with climate change rapidly rising up the political and public agenda, green issues cannot be ignored.”
If that ain’t good news, what is?
13:55 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
November 21, 2005
Go ahead and tax plastic bags, say 55% of Japanese shoppers
An article in today’s Yomiuri Shimbun said 55% of Japanese shoppers want plastic bags to be taxed.
They voted to support a government plan to reduce garbage by having supermarkets and other retailers charge customers for plastic bags, according to the results of a Cabinet Office survey.
Only 22 percent disagreed with the plan, the office said.
Talk about a mature society. Contrast this with California, where a majority appear to be against a tax, and India, where people flout the laws against plastic bags every day.
One million plastic bags are being thrown away every minute of the day and night. This is endangering the lives of animals and marine creatures all over the world and putting an unbearable burden on our planet.
No wonder the Japanese succeed at everything they do. The world has a lot to learn from them.
Plastic bags offer a utility for just a few minutes and the cost of that convenience is way too high. Reusable cloth bags are the answer. See how economical and attractive they are at http://www.badlani.com/bags
07:50 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
October 04, 2005
Girls just wanna have fun
Scotland is fortunate to have media that have taken cognizance of the harm that plastic bags do to the environment.
The Edinburgh Evening News has taken up this issue and launched a 6 week campaign through the city's major supermarkets to encourage more shoppers to buy stronger re-usable bags costing a few pence each.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the environmental group Waste and Resource Action Programme, with Edinburgh chosen as one of two UK cities to pilot the scheme. If it is successful and enough shoppers are persuaded to switch it may be rolled out to other cities.
A 10p tax on plastic bags is under discussion at the moment. Such a bag tax would raise an estimated £450,000 each year.
Across the Irish Sea the "plastax" as it has become known has seen the demand for plastic bags fall by a staggering 90 per cent.
The problem is gigantic.
In the UK alone supermarkets give away 17.5 billion of them a year, with the average shopper taking home around seven each week. Six out of ten shoppers in Edinburgh arrive at supermarkets and shops expecting to be given free bags to ferry the shopping home.
Most inevitably end up in the dustbin and ultimately find their way to a landfill site where this buried rubbish will take more than 100 years to decompose.
Until the late 70’s no one gave away plastic bags - and everyone either managed with a paper bag or carried a tote.
The world chugged along just fine and folks shopped as enthusiastically as they do today.
The doomsday types claim folks will stop shopping if they aren’t given free plastic bags. Utter nonsense. Check with the folks in Ireland. Have they all closed up shop and gone home? Are you kidding?
Plastic bags are just a habit. If they aren’t available, people will not even think of them. That babe who needs a new outfit for next Saturday is going to buy that outfit. You think she goes shopping because she gets a free shopping bag?
Especially when she can carry her shopping home in a lovely reusable cloth bag; the type you’ll see at http://www.badlani.com/bags
09:10 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
September 24, 2005
Pleasing our customers is what we live for
This morning my daughter Kaajal got a mail from a customer in Akron, Ohio, which said this
“I am absolutely delighted! Please let us put a testimonial on your web site. You have been wonderful to work with, and the product is terrific. I'm still amazed that in this new world of ours we have managed to find our product in India and buy it with the same ease as driving to the nearest town. Thanks so much, Ellen”
You made our day, Ellen. Thank you! This is what we live for – to please our customers.
We’re proud that we make very good bags, but we’re even more proud that someone in Akron, Ohio finds it so easy to work with us.
Please send us a picture of yourself with your bag, Ellen. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of Kaajal in her office which I took as she was inspecting a bag before it went to a customer.
You’ll find a large variety of bags shown at our website http://www.badlani.com/bags Talk to us. We’ll do everything we can to make you feel the same way Ellen does.
11:00 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
September 21, 2005
American city councils ponder plastic waste problem
City councils everywhere today have to address the question of what to do with discarded plastic bags.
Collecting them and transporting them to landfills is costing money. Lots of it. So much, in fact, that California calculated the cost at 17 cents per bag.
So, they proposed a tax of 17 cents per plastic bag. There is much opposition because citizens feel the cost of shopping will go up.
Perhaps councils could look at other examples of how some communities across the world have addressed this problem.
Ireland imposed a tax and cut plastic bag usage by 90%. Clearly, popular or not, it works. Taiwan has cut plastic bag usage 80%.
But some Australian communities have succeeded followed the voluntary route.
The city of Coles Bay led the way with local bakery owner Ben Kearney pushing for a reusable bag that every citizen bought and used. Coles Bay just celebrated their 1st plastic free anniversary and they believe they’ve saved their community from using more than 350000 plastic bags. Ben won the Tasmanian of the Year award for his efforts.
Fitzroy Falls is another Australian community that has proudly declared itself plastic bag free. They got local students to do designs and ordered bags that citizens bought through local retailers.
Then, 13 city councils got together under the Northern Inland Regional Waste Group and invested in buying 86,000 reusable fabric bags to be given away free to all their citizens. Everyone is proudly using them and they’ve also become virtually plastic bag free.
Granted, these are small communities where it is easier to get consensus.
Most American city council managers will be surprised to hear that some US communities have also succeeded in ridding themselves of plastic bags.
Galena, Alaska, a village of 850 also banned plastic bags. With a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the council handed out 2,000 free canvas bags and phased out plastics in the town's three stores. To date, nearly 40 other Alaskan villages have followed suit, said Bill Stokes of Palmer, Alaska, who helped formulate many of the bans with the state's Department of Environmental Conservation.
Most Americans have the impression that reusable bags are expensive. They aren’t. Particularly when imported in bulk.
At http://www.badlani.com/bags you will see more than a dozen alternatives that can be got at less than a dollar each.
08:15 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
September 19, 2005
Amitabh Bachan speaks out against paper bags
Amitabh Bachan, one of India’s most popular movie stars, hosts KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati), and it is watched by an audience of many millions.
Yesterday evening I was thrilled to hear him start the show by asking folks to think about what happens to all the plastic bags they throw away.
As a people we are notoriously unconcerned about civic issues (look how clean everyone’s homes are on the inside and see how they carelessly throw garbage right outside their own doors).
But what the Big B says is considered gospel and I hope people paid attention to what he was saying.
Thank you, Amitabh.
We need lots and lots of influential people like you speaking up on the subject.
The sad thing is that everyone appears to think that paper bags are the only alternative. They’re not and because they are used just once, they are also wasteful. Reusable cloth bags are a much better answer.
See a vast array at http://www.badlani.com/bags
11:55 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
September 17, 2005
Jharkhand bans plastic bags. But only at some places.
The Indian state of Jharkhand announced a ban on the use of plastic bags within a two km radius of religious and tourist place.
"Plastic bags are harming animals and are a problem at religious places. They have been banned under the Environment Law 1986," says the notification.
Isn't that happening everywhere, not just at religious and tourist places? Why not ban them everywhere?
But it’s a good move anyway.
I admire our country for the number of good and progressive laws we have on our statute books. Now, if we could only learn to implement them.
And I wish we could get rid of this preoccupation with religion. Specially the rituals.
Clean water is a very scarce resource and getting scarcer by the day. Banning plastic bags is a good idea. But a lot of other things also need to be banned. Particularly at religious places; particularly near water bodies.
The amount of junk that religious rituals generate is frightening. Water bodies are inundated with people immersing idols, foodstuff, flowers, incense, firewood, ashes, and so many other things.
We’re such a crazy people. Well meaning, pious, but unthinking and blind.
09:30 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
September 14, 2005
The government of India needs to reconsider this insane rule.
Back in the 70s there used to be a joke based on some songs by Bob Dylan and other such topical balladeers. The punch line was the moment the US government discovered that marijuana caused cancer they’d legalize it.
Governments and all large systems, including corporate systems, behave in completely irrational ways much of the time.
The recent experience in Mumbai established beyond any doubt that plastic bags are huge burden for urban systems to cope with.
California’s city government calculated that it costs them 17 cents to collect and dispose off a plastic bag, so they’ve mooted a tax of 17 cents on plastic bags.
That's in a place where people don’t just throw stuff all over the place. In India, we have no rules on how we organize our garbage and we believe that freedom means the right to litter.
But instead of taxing these ghastly things, their manufacturers have been specially exempted from taxes if they use “recycled” plastic.
The government of India needs to reconsider this insane rule.
Do you know how we "recycle" plastic in this country? We melt it at high temperatures, releasing tons of toxic gases into the atmosphere. Recycling is great when you do it rationally, but not this way! See http://www.badlani.com/recycle to see an ecologically friendly way to recycle.
Makes no sense. We live in a country that grows cotton and jute in abundance. Get yourself a nice stylish reusable cotton or jute bag for heavens sake.
Discourage practices that pose as eco-friendly but aren't. What's the point of imposing emissions rules on cars and then encouraging the burning of plastics with another government ruling? Dumb!
See http://www.badlani.com/bags to see what attractive choices you have.
Say no to poisonous plastic. In fact say no to all plastic bags.
09:25 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
September 08, 2005
Biodegradable plastic bags for real
These words have been bandied about so much that recyclable, ecofriendly, biodegradable and other such reassuring terms have lost meaning.
I earlier wrote a blog about one of the worst instances of this obfuscation. http://badlani.com/blog/weblog.php?id=30" target="_blank">http://badlani.com/blog/weblog.php?id=30
The Indian Express, a hugely influential newspaper with a massive circulation published a story that actually said ““NO NEED to kick this plastic habit”
They were talking about a technique developed at ATIRA to make plastic bags photodegradable. Which means it would break down with exposure to light and become a fine powder that would mix with the soil and invisibly poison all of us.
I wrote to the Indian Express and called the scientist. No reply.
When scientists and major newspapers make such irresponsible statements pronouncing a noxious and dangerous substance safe just because it can’t be seen, you see what I mean.
But today I read about what appears to be a genuine biodegradable plastic bag being made in Vasai by a guy called Perses Bilimoria, who’s making plastics from starch and cottonseeds, according to an article in Cybernoon.
I’m going to write to Perses today and try and see if we can find a way to work together to reduce the amount of plastic we pile up on our heads every day like lemmings.
Meanwhile, our fabric bags continue to be one way to avoid poisoning the earth. See them at http://www.badlani.com/bags
10:40 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
August 29, 2005
Maharashtra bans plastic bags
Great! They learned something from the recent flooding. It’s creditable to see a government in our country move this quickly.
But the lobbying has started and follows the usual route. Short sighted reps of the plastics industry have started making noises that more than 1,00,000 workers will lose their jobs.
Utter tripe of course, but our governments have a habit of rolling back many of their decisions when these kinds of pressures are brought to bear on them.
Our overly moralistic politicians had no problem with (so they claim) 1,00,000 bar girls losing their jobs when they closed down dance bars so I hope they will hold firm on the plastic bags issue.
But the ban on bar girls has more potential for creating an income for the enforcement system (like prohibition in Gujarat) so that ban will stay so that generous bribes are collected when folks are caught breaking the law.
But the ban on plastic bags doesn’t have that much potential for fun. So, even if they don’t roll the law back, I’m afraid the ban is difficult to enforce in a country where law enforcement hardly exists.
We already have laws banning the use and manufacture of thin gauge plastic bags, but they continue to be made and used with impunity and continue to choke drainage systems and be eaten by unsuspecting animals and marine life.
One look at the chaos on our roads and the government’s inability to enforce laws becomes clearly visible.
We export cloth bags to environmentally concerned customers all over the world from http://www.badlani.com/bags but hardly every get any customers in India. Sad, isn’t it?
08:35 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
August 17, 2005
Preity’s no bimbette
Contradicting the clichéd assumption that babes lack brains, Bollywood superstar Priety Zinta is clearly a thinking woman.
‘‘I want to urge people not to litter and turn our city into a big dump before we all die of diseases and toxic poisoning,’’ she fumes. The first thing on Zinta’s agenda is to ask the authorities to ban plastic bags in Maharashtra. ‘‘We have to stop using polythene bags. We must adopt brown bags. They have banned plastic in Shimla and it’s already looking good,’’ she reasons.
Preity, we already have a law against plastic bags but it isn’t implemented. And brown bags, by which I assume you mean paper bags, aren’t a great option.
Paper bags are made by cutting down trees that take more than 20 years to grow. When they are cut to spread literature and news and knowledge, maybe it’s worth it, but to make a paper bag that gets used just once? Terribly wasteful, in my opinion.
Cloth bags are reusable and that’s the real answer. The sign of a mature society is when people give up a little convenience for the overall good of their environment. Carrying one’s own shopping bags is a small price to pay to pay for a cleaner city.
And the price is truly small as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags/
Mumbaikars ought to be specially sensitive to this. Discarded plastic bags contributed substantially to creating the choking of drains that led to the recent floods the city experienced.
08:05 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
August 06, 2005
Promotions? Bags make the most sense
I just read an article by Cindy Carrera where she explains the basics of how organizations can use imprinted promotional articles to their advantage.
She categorizes their uses into Advertising Specialties, Business Gifts, Premiums, and Recognition Awards.
“The trick to a good promotion is to attach your company details to something useful. Now, there is "private useful" like the promotional toothbrush you use in the privacy of your own bathroom, and there is "public useful" that you use out there where everyone sees you inadvertently parading the promotion.
This is where promotional bags come in. Few of us can get people to wear sandwich boards for us without paying them, but easily collocated promotional bags act in much the same way” she says.
“Imagine” she adds “the happy recipient of your promotional gift arriving at a jazz concert in the park toting your promotional bag. There it sits on the blanket, sophisticated, serene and discreetly advertising your sophisticated and serene company. What a pleasure.”
Indeed. We’ve found that our bags get reused more than 300 times.
Choose a relevant bag, she suggests. She’s right. There’s a huge variety to choose from, and most are more affordable than you might think. See the variety at http://www.badlani.com/bags
I'm sure we have something suited for your next promotion. And if we don't, we'll design a special solution for you.
10:15 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Plastax is a brilliant idea says Shane from Ireland
Shane Doyle from Ireland wrote in about my blog on Ireland’s plastic bags. Here’s what he said:
"I'm from Ireland myself and the whole plastic bag tax has been a roaring success. You have to ask for a bag now if you want one, the days of automatically being handed a bag are long gone.
And it really works, people can be seen going to the shops with their own "green bags", as they are called, or even just re-using the same plastic bag again and again. You rarely see a plastic bag being blown down the street in the wind anymore!
I must say, it was a brilliant idea!"
Thanks, Shane, for sharing that. I agree that it is a very bright idea. If you’re sick of seeing plastic bags destroy your environment, ask your elected representative to read this blog.
10:10 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
July 21, 2005
This isn’t my opinion, look at the results
Helen Logan reports in the Evening Gazette that Ireland used 1.2 billion plastic bags before 2002, when a 15 cent tax was imposed on their usage.
Did it hurt business? Was the Irish government overthrown by distraught shoppers?
Not really.
What actually happened was that plastic bag usage fell by more than a billion bags within 5 months, and earned £2.25m for the Dublin exchequer to be spent on environmental protection projects.
“Many of us pick up and fill loads of plastic carriers when doing the weekly supermarket shop, without a second thought” says Helen, “imposing such a tax seems an easy way of cutting down on this type of consumption. People can either bring their own bags or at least be encouraged to re-use the plastic ones if they have had to pay for them”.
Common sense isn’t it?
The harm that these innocuous looking little plastic bags do cannot easily be visualized by everyone. If a 15 cent tax can bring the issue home, I’m all for it!
09:32 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
July 16, 2005
The world is going crazy, but there’s hope…
Doug Gordan wrote about how he bought some gum and the store clerk put his tiny purchase into a paper bag and then put the paper bag into a plastic bag. As he left the store, he took the pack out of the bag and threw the bag out in a corner trash can, giving the bag a total out-of-store lifespan of about two minutes.
Considering, he says, that so many New Yorkers are rarely without messenger bags, backpacks, or Louis Vuitton knock-offs, most have little use for plastic bags for the few items they might purchase during our daily routines.
If you want to rock the world of just about any convenience store employee, tell them that you don't need a bag to hold your purchase. Doug often pre-emptively does this. In return, he says, he’s greeted with looks that most people reserve for the insane and/or Tom Cruise.
Its become a habit, over-packaging everything. It’s a habit that is costing the world dearly.
Plastic bags don’t biodegrade and will stick around and blight our world for centuries to come. And as they fly around they will be eaten by innocent animals and marine life who will die painful deaths because their digestive systems get choked.
Reusable bags are the answer. Preferably cotton or jute bags. Completely biodegradable and far more stylish and amazingly affordable (see how affordable at http://www.badlani.com/bags)
What’s fascinating about Doug’s article is the number of comments its generated. I’m going to write a blog about those comments soon. The really good news is that they all support a pastic bag tax.
08:20 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
July 12, 2005
Bags or decks, natural products are best
The San Francisco Chronicle had a story today comparing wooden decks with
composite decks made from recycled plastic waste.
Bottom line, they say, go with wood, because composites also have a limited
life span and are eventually not biodegradable. So finally they will contribute
to the environmental burden our planet has to bear.
But the fact that companies like Trex, TimberTech, Louisiana Pacific, Epoch and
CorrectDeck are finding uses for plastic waste is wonderful. We’re also doing
what we can as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/recycle
If you, like many thinking people nowadays, are concerned about the
environmental impact of your actions, please stick to using cotton bags.
We offer polypropylene and polyester options also, as they are reusable, not
used-once-and-thrown-away like plastic bags, but our cotton and jute bags are
best, because they will go, as nature intended, from dust-to-dust. See the
options at http://www.badlani.com/bags
09:50 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
July 11, 2005
G8 falls into ecology versus economy trap
The assumption that what is good for the environment is bad for economic growth has once again resulted in facile results on environmental issues at G8 2005.
The fact remains that we have an environmental crisis on our hands, and
concern for the issue looks like poor economics only as long as the costs of
environmental degradation aren’t spelt out in dollars and pounds.
Change is essential and pushing for it will actually help poorer economies.
Because it is only the less affluent who can see how much waste is being
generated. Most Americans see their lifestyles as being “normal”. The excessive
use of packaging and fossil fuels isn’t even visible to most of them.
More...
08:00 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
July 09, 2005
The rise and fall of a brand
What do you need to create a successful brand? A huge advertising budget?
It helps, of course, to have oodles of money to back up your story, but I don’t think it’s the key ingredient at all.
If you’ve got enough passion, advertising budgets don’t matter. If you’re in love with your consumer and your product, a kind of magic happens that allows you to achieve big things with small bucks.
If this sounds like wishful thinking, here’s my own story.
In 1980 I launched a brand of jeans called Flying Machine literally on a shoestring budget. Its initial launch was done by kids who fell in love with the jeans and sold them to one another. They created such a rush on them that we couldn’t keep up with the demand!
Then, to enter the Mumbai market, I released one ad in the Times of India (yes, just one) and used one major billboard (which I negotiated at a bargain rate over a drink with the owner one evening because it was the monsoon season).
O&M made such a phenomenal ad for me that it was talked about for years after that. The credit goes to Ranjan Kapur and Elsie Nanji. It had a sassy headline “Who needs phoren?”
More...
09:07 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
June 30, 2005
There’s hope for Ahmedabad yet!
This morning a nice young lady came by to discuss what she’d read on my blogs, to talk about how she and the organisation she works with – The Center for Environment Education – could get Ahmedabad conscious of the harm plastic bags are doing.
I was thrilled. I’d given up on my own home town (shame on me!) and she reminded me that there’s no need to. That thinking and concerned folks do exist right here.
I blame myself for not having thought of the people and resources that Ahmedabad has. The CEE in itself represents an immediate and potent force for change.
Thank you, Vinutha, for stopping by.
I enjoyed discussing the issue with her and I’m sure we can put some of the fun stuff we discussed into action soon.
She’s asked me to put together an article on how ecological action can become relevant to businesses here and I’m going to have a blog up on that in a couple of days.
Watch, as they say, this space!
11:45 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
June 24, 2005
Plastic bag junk causes Mumbai city to lose billions of dollars
Yesterday Mumbai city was inundated by floods. The megacity, India’s business hub was paralyzed.
The cost: Billions of dollars and a miserable day for residents who couldn’t make it to hospitals, schools and places of work.
Most flights were either cancelled or diverted to Ahmedabad, and trains were cancelled or ran hours late.
Mumbai has an intense monsoon. You can expect incessant downpours at least 4 times every year.
The downpours aren’t new. They’ve been coming to India’s west coast for hundreds of years.
But the intensity of flooding is new and getting worse every year.
One of the major culprits is the increasing number of plastic bags that are choking drainage systems.
India actually has laws banning the use of such plastic bags, but like most laws in India, they exist only on the books. No one knows about them, no one follows them, and no one appears to care.
Ironically, India is a major exporter of reusable cloth bags.
We ship reusable cloth bags http://www.badlani.com/bags every day of the week to other countries as they take effective steps to reduce plastic bag usage, but we don’t have any customers in India.
This weblog is being acknowledged by readers around the world as a good source of information on the problems caused by plastic bags and the solutions communities have found, but again, hardly anyone in India reads it.
Help!
All concerned, thinking people, please help get our people and governments more sensitive to this problem. Talk to me, we'll try and figure out ways to do this together.
12:05 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
June 16, 2005
Aberdeen considers reusable bags
Reusable cotton shopping bags are to be distributed free to shoppers on a trial basis to encourage people to reduce the number of plastic bags they use, under the the 'Fantastic it's not plastic!' initiative.
Cotton shopping bags will be handed out at the shopping precinct on North Deeside Road during the promotion and local children at Culter school are also being encouraged to participate in the initiative.
Amy Gray, Aberdeen City Council's Business Waste Minimisation Officer says, "Aberdeen City Council is encouraging residents to become more waste aware. Refusing plastic bags at checkouts is a simple step anyone can take to reduce the amount of waste they produce. Aberdeen City Council is also lobbying for the introduction of a tax on plastic bags in line with other forms of packaging."
The UK now produces and uses 20 times more plastic than it did 50 years ago.
Around 10 billion plastic bags are handed out by supermarkets and other retailers in the UK every year.
Scots alone take more than 18.5 million plastic bags home from shopping trips each week, according to research by the UK's largest home improvement retailer B&Q.
Every year Scotland uses approximately 1 billion plastic bags, this equates to 200 plastic bags for every man, woman and child in Scotland.
If national averages are applied to Aberdeen then local residents are sending some 1000 tonnes of plastic bags to landfill each year.
The average household is estimated to have 40 plastic bags stuffed in cupboards or drawers.
Ireland introduced a levy on plastic bags in March 2002 under the Waste Management Act 1996, reducing usage by 90%.
Plastic bags are a major cause of unsightly litter and they also harm wildlife.
The amount of petroleum used to make one plastic bag would drive a car about 115 metres.
Plastic bags that end up at sea are easily swallowed by marine life that mistake them for food. An estimated 100,000 whales, seals, turtles and other marine life die every year after swallowing plastic bags.
In many council areas, plastic bags are the single main contaminant of kerbside recycling.
In a report by Audit Scotland it is envisaged that waste is estimated to grow by 7% per annum, compared to a 3% predicted within the National Waste Strategy. The UK's appetite for free plastic bags shows no sign of diminishing despite many voluntary schemes such as bags for life, boxes or recycling of plastic bags.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that awareness of the problem is increasing by leaps and bounds and is opening up the market for ecologically responsible products.
An aggressive campaign positioning reusable bag users as being trendier and more glamorous and plastic bags users as being Neanderthals can achieve faster change.
There’s a huge branding opportunity inherent in this.
Patagonia and Body Shop are two very successful brands that have positioned themselves as being the smarter choice for their ecological concerns are a case in point.
If you’d like to give your brand that kind of panache, choose from the attractive and economical options at http://www.badlani.com/bags
Your logo on one of our reusable bags will position you as a responsible, forward thinking brand.
11:58 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
June 09, 2005
Talk to kids. They have the magic!
That’s how I got into the business of reusable cloth bags. My daughter Kaajal came home from school one day and banished them from our home.
Little girls know they have that magic. They can make wonders happen. They can banish things. And it works.
This not-so-little girl-now helps me build and maintain this website and market reusable bags all over the world. She still has the passion and the conviction!
To effectively rid your community of this ghastly substance, engage the kids in your community.
If they decide that plastic is harmful, they will have a bigger influence on their parents than any amount of sloganeering and advertising can do.
Would it be difficult to convince kids of this? No. Kids are more open-minded than grown ups are. Treat them with respect, give them the facts, and watch them achieve what governments and activists have not been able to achieve.
Read the stories on this weblog. There are enough facts and anecdotes to build a lesson plan from. If this isn’t enough, write to me and I will either find you what’s missing or do whatever you need to deliver the message.
Actually, encourage the kids in your class to read the blog themselves to extract what they consider relevant to their lives.
Then, encourage them to start their own weblog where they tell stories of how their efforts are working out in your community.
Tell your local media about the blog the kids are writing. I’m sure they will find it interesting.
You’ll be amazed at what this can achieve.
17:25 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Kids have bags of great ideas on how to send plastic packing
Here’s a wonderful story from http://www.smh.com.au/
A class of 11- and 12-year-olds in Australia is leading a push to make the Royal National Park towns free of plastic bags, the first time a school has instigated such a ban.
The Bundeena Public School year 6 campaign - "No plastic packing for Port Hacking" - started with an environmental education project. The snorkelling students were disgusted at the number of plastic bags they found floating in the waterway.
The 28 students followed this with a litter survey, letterboxed homes and yesterday called a public meeting to build support for a possible phase-out of bags by September 1.
The students are challenging other schools in the Sutherland Shire to follow suit. Nationally, about eight towns and suburbs have ditched plastic bags altogether and many others are planning to do so.
Charlotte Bawden, 12, said: "It's the whale season right now and some whales have been found with plastic bags in their stomachs. It's hurting the animals. The turtles think the plastic bags are jellyfish and they eat them."
Bundeena and nearby Maianbar are surrounded by national park, Port Hacking and the Pacific Ocean.
Hayden McLaggan, 11, said the students were keen whale watchers - they saw five humpbacks yesterday morning - and wanted to protect the mammals from man-made threats such as plastic bags.
Planet Ark project manager Doug McLean said: "This is the first town where the children have led the way."
The National Parks and Wildlife Service has just banned plastic bags and brought in $200 fines at a rock-fishing site at Wattamolla in the national park.
Bundeena and Maianbar, with a dozen shops and a combined population of 3000, are similar in size to the Tasmanian tourist town of Coles Bay, which was the first town to ban plastic bags.
Some Bundeena cafes have already stopped supplying plastic bags. The owner of The Fish Exchange, Bruni Ullrich, sells calico bags for $1.10. "People love it after it sinks in," she said.
Warren Mason, a partner in the largest retailer, IGA Bundeena, said it was a "wonderful idea in theory" but would require a re-education program for consumers to change old habits.
"There are people who buy a two-litre bottle of milk, which has a handle, and they still want it put in a plastic bag," he said.
It’s a sad thing that most smaller Australian stores don’t know how affordable reusable cloth bags can be. I hope some of them check out our prices at http://www.badlani.com/bags
17:00 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
The polluter needs to pay
The Australians are leading the world in a voluntary switch away from plastic bags, but the results are clearly not enough.
According to figures from this year's Clean Up Australia campaign, retail sectors other than supermarkets have only reduced their plastic bag use by between 10 and 15 per cent over the past couple of years, and the number of plastic bags in the litter stream is rising rather than falling.
Figures showed that while major supermarkets had achieved a near 27 per cent reduction in the number of plastic bags issued in the past year, other stores had been slow to follow.
IBISWorld general manager Jason Baker said the problem was that in many cases the significant costs involved outweighed the benefits for the companies, despite what might be best for the environment as a whole.
"Until companies, and therefore consumers, are forced to pay the 'full cost' of producing polluting energy or other products - including paying for the cleaning up and avoidance of air and water pollution, or recycling and disposal services - they won't be encouraged to develop 'clean' alternatives, such as wind power or effluent-free farms," Mr Baker said.
In contrast consumption of plastic bags in Ireland dropped 90% within a year of imposing a 12 cent tax on plastic bags.
The problem is very serious and taxation appears to be the most productive way to go.
13:25 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
Are men dumber, or just less secure?
Clean Up Australia says men are the weaker sex when it comes to saying "no" to plastic bags.
A national Newspoll conducted by the environmental organisation shows 50 per cent of women are likely to refuse a plastic bag, but just one-in-three men say 'no'.
A third of men surveyed say they prefer to use plastic bags over reusable bags, compared to just one-in-five women.
Everyone’s been telling me this for years. That we’re the dumber sex.
But could it be that we are just more insecure?
No woman’s feminine identity is threatened by being seen carrying a cloth bag for her groceries. Are men concerned that they’d look like wimps carrying a cloth bag? Most cloth shopping bags are designed to look like the kind of totes women carry.
A corporate client (a male) who regularly orders giveaway bags for the trade shows he attends on behalf of his company gave me some insight into this.
Most totes, he mentioned, look too feminine, and male visitors to trade shows feel awkward carrying them.
We worked with him to design a jute + cotton tote with longer handles that men could sling over their shoulders without getting this feeling.
He wrote in after the show telling us that the design was a big hit, and preferred by everyone (males particularly, but women included) to the bags other exhibitors were handing out.
It was particularly gratifying, he added, that most folks catching flights out after the show, had his bags slung over their shoulders at the airport also.
At Norquest, we work hard to find the most appropriate solution to our clients’ needs and enjoy putting in the effort to customize solutions for their needs. See the vast selection we have on show at http://badlani.com/bags and if you don’t see something that appeals, brief us and we’ll work towards creating a bag for your specific needs.
Sensitivity to such issues can go a long way in encouraging everyone to reduce plastic bag usage. Younger people would prefer backpacks. We have a great line of very economical backpacks too.
Who said all shopping bags need to be cut from the same cloth?
12:55 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
India: Great laws, poor enforcement
Our laws are some of the most progressive in the world, but enforcement is zilch.
We have strict laws against production, storage, use, sale and distribution of polythene bags.
Himachal Pradesh, a state that earns much of its revenues because of its scenic beauty, was the first to implement it. In theory.
In theory you can be fined upto a lakh of Rupees (US$ 2000) or be sent to jail for upto 7 years.
In practice, no one has ever paid that fine leave alone spend time in the cooler.
Most Indian citizens are completely unaware of the law and you see plastic bags flying around everywhere.
The Indian cow, considered sacred and an object of worship, is one of the worst victims. 95 per cent of urban India’s stray cattle are suffering from various ailments due to hazardous materials inside their abdomen. 90 per cent are plastic bags.
We ship reusable cotton bags every day of the week to the whole world from our website http://www.badlani.com/bags but we have no buyers in India.
10:01 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
June 03, 2005
How sacred are Indian cows?
A story in today’s Indian Express talks about how 95 per cent of urban India’s stray cattle are suffering from various ailments due to hazardous materials inside their abdomen.
90 per cent of that was plastic bags.
This, while a website about Hinduism says “The cow has almost become a symbol of Hinduism…in India, the cow is believed to be a symbol of the earth - because it gives so much yet asks nothing in return. Because of its great economic importance, it makes good sense to protect the cow”
In theory, of course.
We’re a country of very high minded and noble intentions. Our actions completely contradict all that.
We sell reusable cloth bags every day of the week to customers all over the world from http://www.badlani.com/bags, but we have no customers in India.
Tragic, isn’t it?
10:09 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Cradle to cradle design
http://www.mbdc.com has a totally inspiring concept on their website. This is what it says.
“MBDC is articulating and putting into practice a new design paradigm; what Time calls "a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world."
Instead of designing cradle-to-grave products, dumped in landfills at the end of their 'life,' MBDC transforms industry by creating products for cradle-to-cradle cycles, whose materials are perpetually circulated in closed loops. Maintaining materials in closed loops maximizes material value without damaging ecosystems”.
We’re doing our modest bit on this front too. Scroll down to see the weblog titled “Turning junk into beauty while helping people” where we’ve attempted to precisely this.
What we’re doing, of course, is going to the grave and turning it into a cradle.
The whole story is at http://www.badlani.com/recycle
But we’re not at all sure on how to take it to its potential and looking for help and advice, so please do share your thoughts…
09:54 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
June 02, 2005
Good corporate citizen image at such a low cost?
Sponsorship from Landmark Narromine, a real estate company is helping the Narromine Shire Council rid their community of plastic bags.
Narromine Shire Council is encouraging all residents to take advantage of the current 'Plastic Bag Swap Op' where calico bags are given free to residents when they bring in 20 plastic bags to the Narromine Council Chambers, Tomingley BP or the Trangie Library.
"There have been more than 16,000 bags bought in since the swap program started, which is a great result," Miss Cartwright said.
You know what that means in terms of sponsorship money? 16000 divided by 20 is 800 cotton bags. That would (or ought to) have cost them maybe $ 2 each.
Look at the image payoff. The sponsor looks like a very responsible corporate citizen and deservedly earns goodwill and trust.
Earning the gratitude of any entire city and all the attendant publicity that comes with it for under $ 2000? Ever heard of such a thing?
Those 800 bags will be taken out for shopping trips maybe 300 times each. That’s 2,40,000 eyeballs for such a small cost.
Much better bang for your corporate buck than sponsoring something gimmicky, wouldn’t you say?
Write to us today and we’ll work out a cost-effective program for your company. See the attractive and economical bags at http://www.badlani.com/bags
12:50 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Witches Knickers
Barbara Wallraff tells us in the The Atlantic Monthly that this is what the Irish call fugitive plastic bags that fly around and snag everywhere. Completely fitting.
Lee Buenaventura, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, felt nearly the same way, but she suggested giving the term a "tweak" to Americanize it: witches' britches.
Other interesting American terms: Urban Tumbleweed, Shoppers' Kites; Sheilah Zimpel, of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote, "Here in the South we call that white trash."
A whole new lexicon is emerging to describe this blight. I’ll soon add some non-American terms that are being used.
What words would you use to describe things that are killing animals and marine life, poisoning your food, compromising the masculinity of unborn boys or being just plain ugly? All contributions welcome.
The reusable bags we offer at http://www.badlani.com/bags are attractive, affordable and a whole lot healthier for our planet and for our lives.
09:18 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 31, 2005
No wonder the Japanese succeed at everything
Clearly they are a more evolved society than most others. Elsewhere, governments are facing opposition from retailers when they propose a tax on plastic bags, but not in Japan.
Here, the Japan Chain Stores Association have themselves called for a law to enable stores to charge customers for plastic shopping bags.
The industry body said retailers have incurred growing costs for recycling plastic trays and other recyclable containers. It said if those costs continue to increase, some retailers might become unable to shoulder the burden and Japan's "recycling system might collapse."
What an admirable perspective. Smart guys, the Japanese. Look at how clean Japan is.
Bring in a tax on plastic bags and usage does drop. It fell 95% in Ireland.
Getting used to carrying reusable cloth bags is obviously something humans can adapt to fairly quickly.
For those who forget to carry it or want the luxury of not needing to carry it, a small tax makes sense. Before plastic bags started getting distributed free after the 70s, we managed didn’t we?
Reusable cloth bags are attractive and affordable as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags
12:02 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
90% of Hong Kong people support plastic bag tax
The Green Students Council in Hong Kong conducted a survey outside 25 supermarkets and found that 90% of the respondents supported a tax on plastic bags.
Hong Kong consumers use 6.7 billion plastic bags a year, or 1,294 plastic bags per person.
Taiwan and Ireland have sharply reduced the use plastic bags by imposing levies three years ago. The Taiwanese, who used to use 909 bags per head, have reduced consumption by 80%.
Ireland's consumers used one billion plastic bags annually, or 256 plastic bags a person, before a similar levy was introduced in March 2002. Since then Irish retailers have reported a 90 percent drop in the number of plastic bags used while the government raised 9.6 million euros (HK$94.57 million) in the first year of the levy.
Despite this, Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao said charging people HK$1 for each plastic bag is very complex and alternative proposals should be considered.
Sounds like the Indian government. Things that are simple for others become complex for us. But I’m surprised to hear this from Hong Kong.
Governments! 90% of the people say tax plastic bags and the government thinks it’s too complex. I ask you!
12:00 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Scotland will tax plastic bags
I just read an article by Jeremy Watson in the Scotland News that the Scots will soon be charging a 10 cent tax on disposable plastic bags.
Scotland uses about a billion bags a year totaling up to 6,500 tons of waste.
Most are buried in landfill sites, where they can take hundreds of years to degrade, but many litter urban areas, the countryside and the sea, where they can become a major hazard for wildlife. The stomachs of whales and seabirds washed up on Scottish shores have been found to be filled with plastic bag fragments, which may have contributed to their deaths.
The sums raised will be collected from shops by local council officers and the profits spent on environmental projects. In Ireland, where a similar bill has reduced plastic bag usage by 95% since being introduced in 2002, the levy has already raised £23m, says Jeremy.
Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Pringle, who introduced the bill, says that the Irish levy had been "a huge success", adding: "As well as reducing the number of plastic bags being thrown away, it has really increased awareness of recycling in general”
Councils in Scotland are backing a levy as it would save them millions of pounds in landfill charges, as well as providing cash for new environmental programmes.
Predictably, the British Plastics Federation, is carping about it, but Mike Pringle has the answer “Free plastic bags only became common in the 1970s. Before that our forebears managed very well without them."
Reusable cloth bags are an attractive and affordable alternative, as can be seen at http://www.badlani.com/bags
The guys who oppose the taxation bill should read some of the stories on this weblog, including the one which tells you how plastic chemicals leaching into your food from packaging and doing a gender bender on newborn babies.
08:25 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 28, 2005
Plastics are a gender bender
The culprit is an ingredient in plastic goods called phthalates says a story in The Guardian.
They seep into your food from plastic packaging and get into your bloodstream.
Result: ‘Women with higher levels of four different phthalates were more likely to have baby boys with a range of conditions, from smaller penises and undescended testicles to a shorter perineum, the distance between the genitals and the anus,’ said the report.
"Every aspect of male identity is altered when you see this in male animals," the article quoted Fred vom Saal, professor of reproductive biology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, as saying. Levels of aggression, parenting behaviour and even learning speeds were affected, he said.
The differences indicate a feminisation of the boys similar to that seen in animals exposed to the chemicals.
Ouch!
Switching to buying unpackaged food and carrying it home in our natural cotton bags seems like a smart thing to do, doesn’t it?
Reusable cotton bags are attractive and affordable, as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags
11:47 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 26, 2005
Turning junk into beauty while helping people
Used plastic bags can do immense harm if allowed to choke landfill or left free to be eaten by innocent animals and marine life.
But they can be used for good if used as a raw material. That’s what we decided to do. I spoke to my designer friends Prakash Vani and Himadri Ghosh and that is what we’ve been trying to do.
This little picture shows you the junk we started with, the very basic looms we worked with and some of the beautiful bags and textures we could create.
Feels really good to be able to take something awful and turn it into something so delightful.
Read the whole story at http://www.badlani.com/recycle
I realize that this is a modest achievement, but it is meaningful to us and I imagine even more so to the folks who can benefit from it. But I also see that it has immense potential for good.
I'd love your input on how we can take this forward from here. Please take a moment to share your thoughts with me. Ideally, I'd like to identify people and agencies who can assist in the process of bringing to market the products that emerge from this exercise.
All thoughts will be more than welcome. And if there is anything you can bring to the table, we'd love to work with you.
Write to me at rajiv @ badlani.com
10:08 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 25, 2005
How your city can become plastic bag free
Fitzroy Falls sets a fine example of how this can easily be done.
Some cities in Australia did this by having their local government invest in cloth bags and hand them out free to every citizen.
Some cities that thrive on tourism had citizens take a pledge to each buy and use cloth bags.
But Fitzroy Falls has followed what appears to be simplest path. They utilized the local retail network and citizens bought cloth bags from the retailers they do business with.
The local council imported cloth bags at a lower cost because they could place a larger order than any individual could.
Then they sold them to local retailers who are allowed to mark them up so that they can make some money on them and order more.
Deputy Mayor Nick Campbell-Jones said the declaration of Fitzroy Falls as a plastic bag-free town was an example for the rest of the shire to follow.
"This is the first locally-branded, re-useable shopping bag in the area and it goes some way towards the creation of a sustainable community," he said.
Local students were encouraged to come up with a design for the re-useable bags which would express an environmentally responsible message and also promote the Fitzroy Falls region.
"Early on we realised that the best way to proceed with the campaign was by consulting with the local community. We spoke to local businesses to establish what their issues of concern were as well as getting the kids involved in creating the design," Ms Katz said.
"The launch today shows that even small communities can make a stand against plastic bags and offer viable alternatives."
Diane Garwood stressed the environmental damage plastic bags do to the environment.
"Plastic bags have an enormous impact on the marine environment and are responsible for the deaths of 100,000 birds, seals or wild turtles every year," she said.
Would you like your community to be plastic bag free? Write today to Rajiv@badlani.com and I’ll be happy to work out a specific plan for your community.
You can select from the vast variety we have at www.badlani.com/bags and we’ll be happy to print your community’s message on them for you.
08:11 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 21, 2005
Roads from plastic waste. Great idea!
What a great idea!
R Vasudevan, Head of the Department of Chemistry, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai has pioneered a way to use a mix of shredded plastic waste in making roads.
It’s mixed in with the “metal” used to make the road and assists in binding it better, making it capable of withstanding heavy rains, reducing the amount to bitumen required. The development team believes it also offers better road grip than rubberized roads.
Sounds seriously win-win to me.
Much better than the blind eye all the authorities in India have been turning to the huge plastic waste problem we have here.
Here’s a picture of these folks standing on their road. The lady’s the head of the college.
admire people who try to do something about the problems they see.
I’ve been working with my friends, Prakash Vani and Himadri Ghosh to see if we can also do our bit, and we’ve succeeded in making some viable looking products from plastic waste using handlooms and devices that do not require any more energy input and can be made at home by even the poorest of the poor.
I’ll have a story and a webpage about that effort up very shortly.
11:49 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Here it is - the jute supermarket bag
It’s a good looking bag, isn’t it? We call it the Jute #B06.
Attractive, economical and capable of saving the world from the waste of as many as 1000 plastic bags, this bag is a hero!
Packing and shipping costs are being worked out even as I write this, and we hope to have this lovely bag up on our website very soon.
08:00 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 20, 2005
Japan addresses plastic bags waste issue
The Daily Yomiuri today reported that Japan’s Environment Ministry has decided to forbid retailers to hand out free bags.
The ministry hopes to submit a bill to revise the law in the ordinary Diet session next year.
Wise. The Japanese throw away 30 billion plastic bags annually.
As one of the cleanest, most well-kept societies in the world, the Japanese have a deep stake in keeping their environment safe from the havoc that plastic bags wreak on the world.
The National Association of Super Markets expressed some sympathy for the idea saying in a statement, "We can reduce free handouts of plastic bags by charging the shoppers, which would cut the cost at supermarkets." However, it also expressed concern over receiving complaints from shoppers and expected a decline in sales.
The success of Australian communities in reducing plastic bags waste might assuage their worries. The Japanese are an aware society. Just a couple of activists can probably translate a rule into a personal mission for individuals.
Like Ben Kearney did in Coles Bay, Australia. Coles Bay saved their town from more than 300000 plastic bags by introducing an attractive and practical alternative. On our website, we call it the # B06.
It’s made from nonwoven polypropylene. Not in itself an ecological material, but reusable, and well designed.
At Norquest, we’ve now developed a version from laminated jute. Acting from the belief that most humans prefer the textures of nature. If you’re going to use a reusable shopping bag we might as well design one that looks and feels good to you. The jute version is an absolute delight. We'll have a picture up very soon.
We have lots and lots of attractive and economical options on show at http://www.badlani.com/bags and we hope we’ll get more Japanese folks looking at them now.
Well done, Japan! Way to go!
08:05 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 14, 2005
Science sans perspective is dangerous
This morning I was appalled to read an article in the Indian Express that said “NO NEED to kick this plastic habit”
Seems some ATIRA scientist has found a way for plastic bags to become brittle and turn into a fine powder when exposed to sunlight. And the Indian Express article implied that plastic bags were now “safe!”
Until now, innocent animals and marine creatures, who couldn’t differentiate between plastic bags and food swallowed the stuff and died horrible deaths because plastic is indigestible, and full of poisonous toxins.
Now, all us humans can also kill ourselves the same way, because that fine plastic powder will mix with the soil we grow our food in and the water we drink.
Brilliant.
I’ve written to the editor of the Indian Express. Let’s see if he is responsible enough to correct the dangerous impression his readers must have got.
Then I phoned the scientist. He admitted that this fine powder would retain all its original chemical properties. But it didn’t seem to worry him.
I thought scientists could think.
ATIRA is the acronym for the Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research Association.
In a country where millions derive their livelihoods from growing and processing cotton and jute ATIRA ought to be finding ways to make re-usable cloth bags more attractive, rather than researching ways to make plastic even more dangerous than it presently is.
At http://www.badlani.com/bags we sell reusable cloth bags every day of the week to customers all over the world, but awareness of the harm that plastic bags do is abysmally low in India.
08:43 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 11, 2005
Banning of plastic bags is not possible says Indian Environment Minister
I believe our Minister of State for Environment and Forest Namo Naryan Meena said in parliament that ''it is not possible to ban their use''.
Worse, I’m told he actually said that plastic bags were ''not harmful to life”.
Finding that the Minister was not equipped with details on the matter, the Speaker skipped over to the next question, avoiding an embarrassment to the government on the issue.
From taxation to voluntary movements, enlightened governments across the world are encouraging citizens to switch to the reusable bags we export from India.
But it looks like our environment ministry has no clue of what a huge amount of harm plastic waste is doing to India’s environment, to it’s people’s health and to it’s animal and marine life.
Sad. I expected better from this government.
10:54 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 10, 2005
Plastic bags kill 10,000 Mediterranean fish each day!
Online Greek publication ekathimerini.com today published this shocking fact.
“There will have to be a change in the law forcing supermarkets to charge for shopping bags so that their excessive use, which is detrimental to the environment, can stop,” said Apostolos Alexakis, president of the Association of Greek Supermarkets.
An average store serves about 800 customers a day, each uses four plastic bags on average. Each supermarket gives away roughly 3,200 bags a day and with some 2,500 stores nationwide, this leads to 8 million plastic bags being used daily by customers.
As a result, some 60,000 tons of plastic bags, which are not biodegradable, end up in landfill sites around Greece each year, according to recycling experts. Alexakis said that if customers are charged for their shopping bags, this number could be halved. He added that the move could also lead to cheaper products since the 2 cents or so that each bag costs are incorporated into the price of items on the supermarket shelves.
Supermarket owners are willing to consider charging for plastic shopping bags and encouraging customers to bring their own, and would be interested in adopting a system similar to that used in other European countries, such as Ireland, whereby customers bring cloth bags from home for their shopping, or are charged for each plastic bag they use.
Greece is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I’m so glad they are taking the problem seriously.
They also, like most Europeans, probably assume that reusable cloth bags are expensive. A visit to http://www.badlani.com/bags would give them a pleasant surprise.
08:35 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 07, 2005
Indian army stores take ecological lead
Plastic bags are affecting the environment in India more than in most countries because of our complete lack of discipline and enforcement.
People throw plastic bags everywhere. Though we have legislation in place banning the manufacture and use of thin-gauge plastic bags, these laws exist only on paper, are flouted every day, and plastic bags continue to be thrown away everywhere.
You see them everywhere.
The streets are littered with plastic waste and animals continue to ingest them, mistaking them for food.
The Indian cow, considered sacred by the Hindu religion, is one of the greatest sufferers. Cows on Indian streets now have the trademark bloated stomach that is a result of their digestive systems being choked with indigestible plastic bags.
To me it seems that our government has given up on law enforcement, particularly on seemingly small issues (we have bigger problems! Always!). Awareness of the immense harm these innocuous looking things do is very, very low.
The CSD (Canteen Stores Department), the establishment that runs specially subsidized consumer stores for all armed forces personnel has quietly started enforcing this ban in a simple and effective manner.
They don’t give away plastic bags. End of story. Either you bring your own cloth bag or you do without. A couple of trips home lugging things without a bag to carry them in and you will not forget to carry your own bag.
Army cantonments are already much cleaner than Indian towns and cities. Now they will be even cleaner.
Well done, chaps! I’m proud of you
07:57 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 06, 2005
US businesses bought $ 16.9 billion worth of promo products in 2004
2005 looks even better, suggests an ASIC survey. ASIC stands for the Advertising Specialty Institute.
“Companies are looking for new, more effective ways to spend their marketing budgets, as many are discovering that advertising on satellite radio, TiVo television or the Internet is not as effective as it once was” says Greg Muzzillo, founder and Co-CEO of Proforma, said to be one of the top 10 promo product distributors.
I’m convinced this is part of a worldwide trend that is leading away from broadcasting marketing messages through mass media to customized messages being narrowcasted to specific customers.
The customization potential of promotional products makes them especially appealing as does their topicality and association with events.
The Promotional Products Association published an article in December 2004 saying bags are a wonderful promo choice.
Why? Because everybody uses them.
Since everyone has stuff to hold, there’s not one person who doesn’t have a bag of some sort. Promotionally speaking, there’s an inherent use value for the recipient, and this means, for the advertiser, there’s the frequent opportunity for seeing the company logo.
They are an extension of the person, and different styles may fit one person but not another. I completely agree. In today’s world one-size-fits-all just doesn’t cut it. That’s why, at Norquest, we encourage our customers to customize what they are ordering.
No fixed notions, no minimums, we don’t put any limits on our customers’ imaginations. It’s our job to make whatever they dream up and we enjoy it.
Bags work. Everyone loves receiving an attractive bag. And we’ve got plenty. See the variety at http://www.badlani.com/bags You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how economically they are priced.
Good looking, economical, and something that everybody wants. Isn’t that how you’d like your next promotion to be?
08:15 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
May 05, 2005
Internal Branding
Too many discussions on branding focus on projecting a brand to external audiences. To the extent that branding gets considered as being synonymous with advertising.
I disagree. I think the place a branding exercise starts from is within the organisation. It is only when an organisation is in total internal agreement on the subject of “who we are and how we behave” that it is actually equipped to deliver a consistent branding message to the external world.
One of the most effective ways to make this happen is to conduct role-playing exercises on how the folks within the organisation would like to be treated by the suppliers they do business with.
At some level each one of us a buyer of goods and services, and we have no difficulty in differentiating between who gives us great service and who doesn’t.
Human beings have a wonderful characteristic. We all know what we like and what we don’t. Stands to reason that if an experience doesn’t appeal to us, it wouldn’t appeal to our customers either.
It isn’t difficult, then, to take this into a discussion of where we could improve our service standards.
This is a simple exercise, doesn’t cost anything at all, and helps bind the organisation into one that is on the same wave-length where service and quality are concerned.
It works. Try us out for your next requirement of bags and see how we measure up. If we don’t exceed your highest expectations, please tell us so. We’ll listen and we’ll learn every time. And you’ll have an even more pleasing supplier.
A look at www.badlani.com/bags/customers.htm will tell you that our efforts have met with some success, but we believe we have a lot more to achieve.
To all the customers who’ve said kind things to us. Thank you. Your appreciation matters a lot to us; it helps to keep us striving. But, please don’t pull your punches. If we do anything at all that doesn’t please you, please tell us!
We also use this to learn how to deal with the folks who we buy from. We don’t like being treated in some ways, and those guys are every bit as human as we are.
10:22 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
April 28, 2005
Would you have a bag manufacturer make a tent for you?
Winning a customer’s trust is what makes it happen for us.