Small Steps: How A Local & "Socially-Sustainable" Plastic-Bag Alternative Begins in India
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 09. 9.07
It seems that everywhere you look now, everyone is coming up with alternatives to typical plastic bags – running the gamut from the overhyped to the low-key local initiatives. India is certainly no stranger to this growing anti-plastic awareness and in a country where plastic now proliferates like crazy, another no-plastic contender from a sustainable community in South India has jumped into the fray.
Enter the Small Steps bag from the Auroville-based Upasana Design Studio – another stylish, creative and “socially-sustainable” solution to the world-wide problem of plastic pollution. The bag is made of cotton and is designed to be stuffed into an attached smaller bag, hooked with a handy key-ring, so that you can always carry it with you. The project is run on an innovative model of a “gift economy” method of distribution and promotion. The goal of Small Steps: to make 10 million bags by hand (yes, by hand), creating 1000 jobs for 1000 people for 1000 days. (Of course, donations will help the project along.)
To find out more, we spoke with Uma Prajapati and Vimal, two designers from Upasana.
Treehugger: What was the inspiration for the Small Steps bag?
Uma Prajapati: We were travelling in North India as part of a tour. The problem of plastic became part of the discussion when we saw piles of plastic bags flying everywhere and we were asking ourselves, who is responsible and what can be done?
We started asking ordinary vendors using plastic bags whether they would change the problem if they could. They all responded that they would, yet we were encountering this impression that big change can only come from big works. So in the spirit of Lao Tzu’s saying that “a journey of a thousand miles starts with one small step,” we wanted to challenge this impression, starting with the idea that one small step is to carry a reusable bag so that you can easily say “no” to plastic.
TH: Small Steps is described as “socially sustainable.” Can you explain what this means and how this is achieved (especially in the light of other recent plastic-alternative initiatives which were revealed to be not “fair trade”)?
UP: Socially sustainable means we are genuinely working with communities to transform poverty into skills and economic self-sufficiency on a local scale. At the moment, we have trained women from three local villages in making the bag in their free time at home, not in factory conditions. The extra money from making these bags by hand, paid at fair trade levels, empowers these women as income-earners in their households.
TH: Could you explain this concept of “gift economy”?
Vimal: It is something that we were already working with in our tsunami-relief project Tsunamika. With Small Steps, the idea is not to sell the product, but to sell the idea of saying “no” to plastic. In a gift economy, it’s not about business but about the social cause. If you like the idea behind the project, you not just buying the bag, you are also spreading the idea. For example, you can buy one bag and then you could also pay for another bag for the next person to whom you would like to “gift” this idea or awareness to. This is the idea behind a “gift economy” – to be generous with our awareness and not to necessarily expect something in return.
TH: How is the response so far, locally and beyond?
UP: It has been an overwhelming response. During the launch of Small Steps during Earth Day in Auroville, we gave out hundreds of bags. For July’s Live Earth event in Washington D.C., we were able to enlist volunteers to march around with posters, brochures and samples.
TH: What are some of the ways you are trying to expand the Small Steps project in the future?
V: Right now, we are looking to Pondicherry (the nearest sizable town) as our next area to push the no-plastic idea, especially in the local supermarkets. We’ve also been working with business management students to explore the possibility of promoting the bags as corporate gifts in companies. Here in Auroville, there have already been units here that give their interns a Small Steps bag as a farewell souvenir. We are hoping to take it to the rest of India and hopefully even further.
Upasana Design Studio was founded by Uma Prajapati in 1997 who is a graduate from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. Currently, it has a team of seven to eight designers and is located in Auroville, a small sustainable community in South India.
For more of their projects, please see their website here.
::Small Steps
See also ::Upasana Design Studio
Image: Upasana
I'd never heard this type of thing referred to as a "gift economy" - learn something new every day - and what a great idea this project is!
I don't see how these carry bags are any different from any other carry bags that every household has. Simply asking people to use carry bags in favor of plastic ones has not worked on a large scale so I doubt whether this will make any difference. What you can't change easily is the behavior of the masses. The fact is, people forget to take bags with them when they go grocery shopping. The easy availability of plastic bags doesn't help either.
So here's a solution that I think can be much more effective: Instead of asking shoppers, begin at the source. By that, I mean the shopkeepers. Convince them to abandon plastic bags in favor of selling inexpensive and reusable cotton bags. These must come at a cost and not be free - so that the shopkeeper has a stake in the process and people don't throw the bags away after use. And these must be inexpensive for consumers to not feel much of a pinch when they are forced to buy them. (say, Rs.3 for the smallest one and Rs.20 for the largest).
This can be launched as an experiment in a shopping complex. For example, one day of every week can be stipulated as a no-plastic-bag day. Right away you will distribute hundreds of reusable bags in a single day. With time and experience, the exercise can be slowly implemented on a larger scale. The only tough part is to convince the shopkeepers who may be resistant to change. But since it brings them additional income, it should not be too difficult. I have more ideas on this, if anyone is considering taking this on, write to manu [@] orangehues.com.
What a great idea to market this as a corporate gift/marketing item!
I have a "ChicoBag" that I keep clipped to my pocketbook, and it has been a easy and convenient way to cut my "recycle" bin of plastic bags dramatically.
Companies (even my company which makes PV manufacturing equip) has junk made (pens, puzzles,shirts, mugs, etc) that end up at the yard sale or the Goodwill, or the trash.
I will recommend my company look into having these bags for their marketing goodies.