About the Product

HOW IT BEGAN
It began as a project in waste management education. Now, the plastic bags that once littered the streets of New Delhi, India, are providing income for underprivileged local men and women. Since discovering an innovative method of pressing reclaimed plastic bags in to sheets of material, Conserve, based in New Delhi India, has been revolutionizing the handling of recycled plastic, and has become a model for recycling and sustainable living programs.

Ultimately, their program provides a sustainable living for hundreds of underprivileged people who now gather the bags at numerous collection centers through out Delhi. Anita and Shalabh Ahuja are now producing thousands of bags, totes, and accessories, per month.

WHAT IS THE FABRIC?
The fabric is actually made from recycled plastic bags. The same as those you would receive from the grocery or speciality store. These bags are now being collected from the streets in and surrounding New Delhi, India. Vinyl and most recently, seat belt material, are used for the handles, straps, and/or trim.

HOW IS THE FABRIC MADE?
The recycling process begins with the ragpickers, who collect plastic bags from the 600 tons of waste produced daily by New Delhi’s 15 million people. The bags are cleaned, then sorted according to their color, prints and thickness. The bags are cut into various shapes (from stripes and squares to flowers and abstract symbols). The pieces of plastic are laid out into a pattern. It’s important to note that the color in the fabrics come directly from the original colors of the bags that are reclaimed. No additional inks or dyes are added.

Using an innovative process (currently under patent approval), the plastic is fed into a machine which fuses them into sheets of material, such as you would find in cotton or leather.

Once the fabric is made, it is then creatively designed into an array of ECOlogical and CHIC products, including handbags, totes, padded laptop satchels, portfolios, photo frames, etc.

EcoChic / Conserve —Transforming the waste plastic and polythene bags into chic, colorful products.

Made from Recycled Plastic Bags
No Inks or Dyes are added. The colors in the fabric come directly from the original reclaimed bags.
Low energy production. No toxic by-products of production.
Provides sustainable employment.

WHO BENEFITS

The money from the sales of the bags goes into a cooperative of about 300 people, mostly women, living in New Delhi’s shantytowns. The women are the ones who wash and clean the bags, and sometimes assist in making them into products. A number of families survive on these earnings alone.

CUSTOMIZATION & EXCLUSIVITY

EcoChic products can be customized both in design, as well as in fabric. In addition, logos can be added to the products during production, or embroidered on to straps, and other, post-production. Customers wishing exclusivity in design and/or fabric, will need to meet minimum quantities. In addition, they will need to either select designs not currently in the marketplace, or we can modify existing products. Please contact our sales department for further details.