Our inital small steps idea

1. small steps is not designed to be a packaging substitute as is, it is designed to be a campaign for raising awareness.

By providing customers with the small steps option , we wish to offer them the chance to change their behavior towards the environment and raise awareness in a hands on manner.
We hope to raise awareness by encouraging shoppers to make a conscious decision at the supermarket whether to use plastic bag, or a reusable bag.
We wholeheartedly understand that Small Steps bags are not a packaging substitute. We merely wish to substitute a fraction of the demand for plastic bags with your bags, making the Small Steps environmental cause more visible to the average Indian shoppers eye and hopefully creating a civil movement by capturing the hearts and minds of people.

2. small steps is not meant to be sold as commodity as is.

We do not intend to sell Small Steps bags as a commodity. This is a Non-profit project where Large corporate companies will simply pay for advertising on the bags. The consumer pays a small amount to show his commitment.
The sponsors will cover production costs and shoppers will be free to donate money. making the whole system a very voluntary one a, useful contribution to the economy of abundance.

3. small steps believes in providing subsidy bag to rural India & education sector not to people who go to shopper stop or pantaloons.

We are aiming at the average Indian shopper at stores like Big Bazaar. Our primary goal is to spread environmental awareness not only to rural India & education sector but also all other Indians. The largest polluters today tend to live in cities and spreading awareness among them is important. hundreds of shoppers visit stores like big bazaar everyday if even a small fraction of them are persuaded to look at alternatives it could snowball and perhaps even eventually force large corporations to look beyond the short term.
We are also trying to make the process of spreading awareness in shops fund itself. The project will be more sustainable if it also harnesses market forces to the degree of covering cost prices. This would in no way impinge on the stellar work that small steps is doing by subsidising bags for the rural and education sector.

4. It is routed in the economy of abundunce not of Trading.

To maximise the potential outreach of the economy of Abundance we must harness the economy of trading. That said the economy of abundance is a beautiful mechanism and we are emphasising each consumers right to donate any money if he/she wishes to. The roots Must remain in the economy of abundance, but the branches can grown with the aid of a liberal market economy. We hope to achieve the natural transition described on the small steps website , indeed this was one of the primary sources of our inspiration for the entire project; "The Small Steps shopping bags are not intended for profit. They are, however, intended to be socially sustainable. Though Upasana Design Studio is coordinating the first round of Small Steps bag production, our eventual goal is to place this project in the hands of the people.Through village outreach and training, villagers will be taught how to craft these compact, lightweight bags out of locally-available materials and they may sell them to either create or enhance their livelihood.By promoting the use of cloth bags, Small Steps is trying to clean the roads. But equally as important, it is also trying to create jobs." - {http://smallsteps.in/node/24}
By creating a stir, publicity and a public movement in the urban areas we hope to help small steps realise the dream of using the bags to clean roads, enhance livelihoods and eventually place the projects in the hands of the people by providing them with a large sphere of influence and popular support for their noble actions.