It's the only planet we have folks!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

Winning a customer’s trust is what makes it happen for us.

Clearly, the folks who run the Bahrain Exhibition Center were happy with the bags we’ve been doing for them so when they had a need for a colossal “tent” for a major event, they chose to discuss it with us.

From fabric selection to fireproofing to fabrication, we enjoyed the challenge of working on something new for us. Finding ways to communicate all the zillions of variables with our customers was also an exercise that gave us learning and joy. We had a few anxious moments, but Sanjiv manages to make the most challenging manufacturing issues look simple and do-able.

But the real joy came when they told us they were thrilled with the result and sent us a link to their event website www.asiaitsummit2005.com

Thank you Cheryl and Klaus from all of us at Norquest. Thank you for your confidence in our abilities.

Got a challenge for us, anyone? We will enjoy working with you.