A few weeks ago, a very interesting email arrived via the Junkk.com site. It was from a charitable 'business' in India that have a simple proposition: essentially they turn discarded carrier bags into rather stylish bags of a rather more permanent variety, essentially by weaving them.
Much as with our relationship with local social enterprise EnviroAbility http://www.enviroability.org.uk/ , the premise looks sound. They have a workforce on tap who needs work, has the appropriate skillset and in conducting their business essentially take 'waste' materials and turn them into something that can be reused. How Junkk.com is that!
Their problem seems to be getting access to the raw materials (carrier bags) out from the UK to India, and of course getting the finished product (fashion bags) back for sale here.
It has so far proven an enlightening and enjoyable experience, and I am determined to do all I can to help make this work if at all possible. I see it as what Junkk.com was set up to do.
However the level of commitment required in doing the necessary level of research and making the possible connections is not something we can afford to commit at present, despite my belief that a success in making this happen will be a worthy vindication of our intentions and abilities.
Unfortunately this has all coincided with our site redesign and a bunch of other tasks we have been set by OLOV (Our Ladies of Vision) to basically focus our efforts to income generation as a matter of priority. It makes sense. No money means we can't help oursleves, much less anyone else.
So I have, with regret, had to tell them that while we will do our best as a little 'as 'n when' side project, they really shouldn't rely on us to be their only source of UK assistance. It wouldn't be fair to do this project less than the justice it deserves.
As we have no axe to grind other than helping, I here share a summary of what I have suggested to them to date. I'm thinking of making our ongoing efforts a sort of 'Project in Progress' that those who are interested can follow as we try our best, so that you can share in our successes and learn from our mistakes. I can also extend their exposure beyond this blog to the diRE:ctory, category pages (we have one on carrier bags!), editorial, etc.
They approached us for our possible connections to councils, and we do have some that we can and will for sure pursue.
However, it was my feeling that councils may not be the primary route, if only becuase I am not to sure if they actually collect carrier bags in any volume.
Obviously those who do are such supermarkets as operate a collection facility. Thing is, I don't know what happens to them, and hence am hoping to find out when I get time (or get told). My personal view is that the supermarkets who seem to have rated most highly in ENV/RE: initiatives we've read about lately would be most receptive. So I'm thinking Marks and Sparks, Waitrose and possibly Boots. We'll certainly give 'em a go. Wonder if they'll take our call?
Another avenue to consider is recyclers, but here I suspect we may run into that age old problem of targets. Anything we come up with that takes reuse chunks out of recycling volumes may not be greeted too well. But the %ages will not be significant, and the PR value of a charity aspect may serve to outweigh the downsides.
Speaking of charity, that is another route. I have often seen signs in charity shops seeking 'old' carriers for their re-use. That would suggest low volumes, but it is worth a thought if made part of a campaign. I fear a certain amount of turf-guarding may negate this route, as we have found some charity initiatives to have fallen foul of this reason before. A pity, as they would surely have the logistics of getting a container out and back to such areas sorted, surely?
And we have also started to be aware of certain cautions that various public and private organisations will apply to such ventures, perhaps highlighted by this email that arrived the other day:
We would like to draw your attention to an investigative documentary being screened by the BBC on Monday 5th of December. It concerns allegations that materials separated for recycling by facilities receiving waste from a number of local authorities, including London Boroughs, are being illegally dumped on third world countries. The programme is called Real Stories and is on BBC 1 at 7.30 pm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/listings/index.shtml?service_id=4223&day=monday
Worth a gander, I'd say. But such issues don't make life easy, do they? Especially such as this one, where we are bascially just trying to see if we can make what seems like a great idea (our unwanted carrier bags get made into something that we take back and in so doing help empower poorer workers in another country, with everyone looking a bit better and making a little bit in the process - I guess that excludes us, but if we do make it happen it may serve to bring our efforts under some useful radars in big business, the media and even the public) come to pass.
It also shows how nothing is ever quite as simple as it may first seem.
We know no more about this venture than they have told us, and we can glean from their site. But it seems worthy.
Here's the URL:http://www.badlani.com
And if I'm up to the task I've attached a picture they sent of the process and the result. I'd buy 'em!
If you do have an idea or can offer a helping hand to move this along, with or without our input, get in touch: info@junkk.com. We do have some more info we'll try and post on site soon... when we have time.
Or I'm sure they would be happy to hear from you direct. Just tell them where you heard about it!
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