Team Green'Oréal

KJ SIMSR
Pledge: We pledge to recycle discarded clothes to cloth bags and reuse these
multipurpose cloth bags to reduce usage of plastic and paper bags.
With the onset of ban on plastic bags usage in India, it is time we start producing and
using bags that are environment friendly and economical. Currently, shopkeepers
either use paper to wrap the products or provide a paper bag charging nominal fee.
Cloth bags are often too costly to the unorganized retailers and unaffordable to most
of them. This results in excessive use of papers which eventually leads to cutting
down trees to make up for the demand, hence affecting the environment. Moreover,
there are several limitations of using a paper bag, such as, its low robustness, low
durability etc. Analysing the people’s need for alternatives to plastic and paper bags,
we, team Green'Oréal have come up with the idea of creating multipurpose cloth
bags from discarded clothes. We propose to recycle the discarded clothes collected
from various sources and reuse them in the form of bags to reduce the usage of
paper and plastic bags. These bags will be nominally charged. However, our aim is
to keep the price lesser than market price of a new cloth bag, to encourage purchase
and thus adoption by masses.
As a part of this activity we took a sample survey of 100 students from our campus to
know number of cloths discarded by them in a year. And from this we got to know
that on an average 10 clothes are discarded in a year by one person.

Particulars HC
Total strength of KJ SIMSR (Students + Staff) 1130
Average no. of cloths discarded per person in a year 10
Total no. of cloths discarded in a year 11300

Process of recycling discarded cloths to cloth bags:

Collection Washing &

of Santising Sewing Marketing
discarded discarded Bags & Sales
clothes clothes

Collection of discarded cloths: Boxes will be kept at various locations on campus,

so that people can drop their discarded clothes in it. This activity is planned for an
entire year and monthly we will take out clothes from the boxes to make cloth bags.
(Approximately 100 clothes per month on an average)
Cleaning and sanitizing discarded cloths: We are planning to tie up with laundry
at the campus itself. And all the discarded clothes will be washed and sanitized
before converting them into bags.

KJ SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH 1

Sewing cloth bags: We will be targeting groups of women who do household
stitching. We will tie up with them for sewing the bags. Designs will be provided to
them by us.
Marketing and Selling the bags: We will be selling these bags at minimal cost in
our campus as well as online. Also, we will be tapping the local street vendors.
Actions taken:
 We have collected 50 discarded cloths for sampling
 Tied up with the laundry in our campus for cleaning and sanitizing the cloths
 Found out a group of women who will be doing the sewing work. Gave them
the contract of making bags
 We made 20 bags from 50 cloths
 We have sold these bags in our campus on pilot basis
Future Actions:
 More variety of cloth bags will be produced like backpack, laptop covers etc.
 Different bag sizes will be available
 Will be creating an online presence through Facebook page, Instagram
business account, WhatsApp group for selling the bags
Impact:
 We made 20 bags out of 50 discarded clothes, so on an average if we see in
a year we can make 4520 bags out of 11300 discarded clothes which if
reused for at least 7 times can save 31640 paper/plastic bags per year.
 On an average a person uses 300 plastic bags a year. Average cost of a
plastic bag is around Rs.3, so total expense towards plastic bags in a year
amounts to Rs.900. If we use 10 cloth bags on an average in a year, it will
cost around Rs.300. Thus, resulting in savings of Rs.600 (source:
https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/the-truth-about-plastic/ )
 Switching of plastic bags with cloth bags help in reduction of land pollution as
every year plastic dumps amount to 36% of land pollution
 Income source of Rs.54000+ for women belonging to socially and
economically backward class
Financials for the first 20 bags produced:
Cost
Total
Particulars (Per
Cost
Unit)
Washing and sanitising 4 80
Sewing cost (basic design - tote bags) 12 240
Transportation Cost 5 100
Misc. Expenses 2.5 50
Total Cost Of Goods Sold 23.5 470
Profit 6.5 130
Sales 30 600

Reusable cloth bags come in all sorts of smart and stylish shapes and prints, making
your shopping trips a little less routine and a little more fun. Say No to Plastic &
Paper Bags! Use Cloth Bag to Save the Earth!

KJ SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH 2