Humble Reusable Paper Bags by La Fabrica

Reducing single use plastic bags in every day consumer carrying system and delivering an alternative solution in the form of Reusable paper bag that can carry up to 10 Kg including wet items. 

Like any part of the world  Latin america and the Caribbean face serious issues of waste management, our reusable paper bags help decrease the amount of plastic bag going in to the land fills and provide new employment opportunities for small businesses co-operatives and self help groups.

"Shoppers worldwide are using approximately 500 billion single-use plastic bags per year. This translates to about a million bags every minute across the globe, or 150 bags a year for every person on earth." - Ocean crusaders

I think this quote says enough about the scale and severity of the problem.

We need to start implementing daily changes in our buying behaviors and as designers provide sustainable product solutions, if we ever hope to make a dent at the number of plastic bags are going in to our environment.

Beyond the end consumer, every day retailers struggle to reduce their use of plastic bags as they do not have viable alternative. Nor can they rely on shoppers to come with their own reusable bags. Therefore, if we can make the sustainable packaging and carry bags readily available within each locality, every one wins. 

Our solution is the Humble Reusable paper bag by La fabrica.

Made from exclusive recyclable crafted paper
Humble Reusable Paper Bags are good for the environment and your pocket
Use it today, tomorrow and many tomorrows
A bag of delights for local communities

| Heavy duty / Carry up to 10 kg |
| Reusable / Recyclable |
| 100% Biodegradable |
| Carry wet items |

Production of the humble bag is completely manual assembly and can be taught to any number of locally run manufacturers, co-operatives and self help groups.

There are Three key factors

1. Our product tackles the issue of paper bag that is not strong enough to carry weight and wet items. This is done through the innovative design of the reinforced center fold as opposed to the traditional paper bag structure.

2. It is designed as an every day usable object rather than something meant only for the elite conscious consumer, yet it is aesthetically pleasing.

3. Humble bag is Bio-degradable and 100% recyclable. 

Current manufacturing process is fully manual assembly method that is devised and patented which can then be automated for optimal production for the mass consumer market to eradicate the usage of plastic bags. 

Because less plastic bags means less garbage, less garbage means less pollution.

Currently we have our bags available for sale at select retailers across Goa, India. Within the coming year we hope to increase the production to enable retailers to purchase our bags whole sale and provide them as the go to carrier for their shoppers thus reaching much larger demographic. Within the next five years we endeavor to have our patent bag technology available for packaging manufacturers and local co-operatives around the world. With the objective to have the humble paper bag available to the public everywhere from  the municipal markets to the large corporate retailers.

"On average we only recycle one plastic bag in every 200 we use. Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year." - conservingnow.com

The humble paper bag is one way we can provide consumers and retailers alike with a sustainable alternative that is both a functional and affordable replacement to the plastic bags. 

Environment - reducing non biodegradable waste and recycling paper

Social - Providing a product that is accessible to all demographics.

Economical - The production and use of our bag provides job opportunity and aligns with the current moment towards a circular economy where we reuse reduce and recycle with minimum resources.

Our goal in the next year is to establish humble paper bag as a staple in the consumer market and in the next five years we would like to introduce the full range of our biodegradable packaging solutions and build strong relationships with manufacturers and distributors around the world to ensure our products make the largest impact possible.

Currently our retail price point due to small batch manual manufacturing  is too high for the mass market. If we can scale up and automate our production to make the bags affordable for wholesale purchasing by retailers we no longer have to rely on the end consumer to purchase our bags and rather have it stocked in place of the existing plastic bags.

Our first step towards overcoming the barriers was to patent the process so that existing manufacturers could adopt it and get it out in the market while we design, develop and deliver efficiency. We now hope to develop technology which can improve the production process and build a strong network of partners and producers who are inclined to support the success of Eco-friendly consumer products and biodegradable packaging.

Plastic bags are problem everywhere and there are no paper bag in the market that could hold enough weight to carry your purchases (dry as well as wet items) safely home. This opens up a huge opportunity for an effective design intervention.

Today the global paper bag market is at $ 4.7 billion and is expected to grow 4.4% ($ 6.35 billion) by 2025.

We are currently a team of two. We do design development, communication and sourcing in house collaborating with others.

We design and craft innovative organic packaging  and eco-friendly product solutions with the aim of reducing the dependency on plastic. Through this type of  innovation, we will aid the rejuvenation of our ecology and increase awareness on the value of energy-efficient production, conservation of biodiversity , and responsible waste management.

Founder of La Fabrica is an Architect by education and a product designer by practice who envisions a plastic free consumer market where all the packaging can be made with paper and bio-degradable material. As a product designer and developer we have been working on the packaging and carry bag concept over 3 years iterating and testing it real time to fit in to the consumer market. 

Our vision is to use the readily available materials which could easily replace the plastic products & provide long term solutions to an ever pressing issue. 

FiiRE and Goa state innovation council.

FiiRE (Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship) is established with the support of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India under the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations.

FiiRE is providing us with assistance in business registration and development, networking and sales opportunities along with overall  community building within the Goa business space.

Goa state innovation council is a body that is helping us to get patent and trademark on our authentic design interventions.

Our business model is to design and patent technologies specific to the eco-friendly product and packaging industry.

According to the complexity and scale we collaborate with existing manufacturers and self help groups to produce our products and distribute them to the market. 

Our revenue is generated from our design services, the licensing and royalty  of our designs and the sales of our in house products.

We plan to reach financial sustainability through selling biodegradable packaging solutions and paper bags, collecting royalty on our eco friendly product designs and services, eco-packaging consultation as well as capital investments.

We are applying to the Rethink plastic challenge in the hopes of broadening our existing networks and to open up new foreign market opportunities. We hope to also gain valuable and constructive feedback on our product while improving our business development process and secure financial support to take our vision forward.

We would like to partner with Nest foundation. Nest is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) building a new handworker economy to increase global workforce inclusivity, improve women’s wellbeing beyond factories, and preserve important cultural traditions around the world.

We feel this organisation represents  the kind of thinking what we would like to see in the manufacturing industry while putting importance on material, culture and the environment. They pair design thinking with grass roots initiatives and consumer awareness.