7/29/2019 Shift to Recyclable Bags 2 -- Report

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Shift to Recyclable Bags

January 19, 2013: Mani Square Mall, Kolkata

The effects of plastic bags on the environment are really quite devastating. While there are many

objections to the banning of plastic bags based solely on their convenience, the damage to the

environment needs to be controlled. There is no way to strictly limit the effects of plastic bags on

the environment because there is no disposal method that will really help eliminate the problem.

While reusing them is the first step, most people don’t or can't, based on store policies. They are

not durable enough to stand up to numerous trips to the store so often the best that citizens can do

is reuse them when following pooper scooper laws. The biggest problem with this is that once they

have been soiled they end up in the trash, which then ends up in the landfill or burned. Either

solution is very poor for the environment. Burning emits toxic gases that harm the atmosphere and

increase the level of VOCs in the air while landfills hold them indefinitely as part of the plastic waste

problem throughout the globe.

Globsyn Business School - Young Indians-Net, under Kalyani – A Bikram Dasgupta Foundation, has

been campaigning against the use of plastic bags since 2011. The Yi-Net of Globsyn Business School,

operating between 2011 and 2012, had ‘Ban on Plastic Bags’ as its flagship project which was

carried out in various malls across the city of Kolkata. The project won the award of the ‘Best Net

Activity’ at the Fourth Meeting of the Yi Governing Council in March 2012. To carry forward the

legacy, GBS Yi-Net 2012-2013, undertook the project to campaign for the shifting towards

recyclable bags. On October 14, 2012 GBS Yi-Net, under Kalyani  – A Bikram Dasgupta Foundation,

carried out the ‘Shift to Recyclable Bags’ project at Mani Square Mall from 11 am to 8 pm, to sellnearly 500 bags made from recycled-paper and jute. The event was very successful  – nearly 15,000

people were impacted and the proceeds from the project, amounting to over Rs. 20,000, were

handed over to the NGOs who provided the bags.

Owing to the success of the project, GBS Yi-Net, under Kalyani  – A Bikram Dasgupta Foundation,

decided to repeat the event on January 19, 2013. The campaign was carried out by informing the

visitors of the mall about how shifting to recyclable bags would help protect the environment and

bags made from recycled-paper were also sold to them. The bags were made by the women of 

Dakshin Prayash, while the block-printing on the bags were done by the children who are part of 

the same NGO. The proceeds from the project, amounting to nearly Rs. 11,500, were handed over

to NGO. The event started at 11 am with the volunteers of Kalyani  – A Bikram Dasgupta Foundation

setting up a counter at the mall, stocking over 250 bags. By 5 pm all the bags were sold and the

thirty-odd volunteers had impacted nearly 2000 people directly by talking to them, explaining their

mission. Over 5000 people were impacted indirectly through the placards, standees and

presentations which were displayed near the counter.