Scenario Construction

Sapphire Seed Bags:
Sapphire becomes the first fashion brand in Pakistan to introduce recycled seed bags to curb
pollution.
Sapphire, a high-street fashion brand in Pakistan, launched their ‘Seed Bags’ on the occasion of
Independence Day to highlight their contribution to a very pertinent problem in Pakistan:
growing pollution, as well as to amplify the ‘green’ stance the company has taken. The initiative
was announced a week before August 14, and was led by Manghi Communication Solutions
(MCS) – Sapphire’s creative agency
Talking about the initiative, Muzaffar Manghi, CEO, MCS says, “After oil and gas globally,
fashion retail is the second largest plastic polluter. Therefore, rather than shy away from this
glaring fact, we wanted to be honest in addressing it. We wanted to demonstrate that being green
can be good for business too.”
Sapphire’s seed bags (instead of regular paper bags) are made from recycled cotton waste
sourced from the textile industry and are eco-friendly. The bags come embedded with a mix of
seeds: amaranth, marigold and China asther. Besides the fact that they are pretty, Manghi says
the reason for choosing these plants in particular is that they are resilient and do not need much
tending to, and can grow in a variety of climates.
With instructions written on them on how they can be sown directly into the soil, the bags came
in one size and could be bought on August 14, with any purchase at Sapphire.
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The initiative was a huge success in terms of talkability and was appreciated across Pakistan.
Since its announcement a week before August 14 on Instagram, Facebook, via bloggers and in-
store advertising, Manghi says, “we ran out halfway through the day (so the response was a tad
bit better than expected).”
TARGET MARKET
The target customers will be distributors and retailers of consumer goods, which includes grocery stores,
bakeries, shopping malls, hardware shops, boutiques, garment shops,
Scenario Construction:
Modified form of PESTLE Analysis
The Best Case The Most Likely The Worst Case

Case
Factors:
Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Legal
Environment
1. Political:
As an alternative to plastic bags, he said the government is working to adopt the Kenyan model
of making shopping bags from plants which will be biodegradable. Minister of State for Climate
Change Zartaj Gul, when asked about the effect of plastic bag ban on manufacturers, who say
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that 8,000 industrial units will be closed and a million workers unemployed, she said the ban will
not shut down the industry and leave people unemployed but will create a new industry.
“An alternate source will be developed soon. Paper, cloth and jute bags will increase
employment for women in home-based industry,” she said.
2. Economic:
Sales will go up by 5% and encouraged more consumers to shop with the use of Seed bag.
3. Social:
 Making the use Seed Bags consumer-friendly.
 Encouraging consumers to use Seed bag instead of plastic bags.
 Label the Seed bags with the company logo and a promotion of using it can save the
environment.
 Consumers are encouraged to shop at supermarkets that uses brown bag because of the
environmental-friendly effect.
4. Technological:
This proposed unit including hopper, extruder, cooling tower, sealing and cutting machines which will
produce plastic bags of different sizes using pure and recycled raw material.
PRODUCTION PROCESS FLOW:
Stage 1:
1. The machine operator pours the polyethylene resin into the hopper along with the additives d2w
(for converting it into bio-degradable) and master batch (for color adding purposes)
2. The hopper feeds the resin into the extruder
3. Extruder melts the resin into molten form under 200 oC maintained temperature
4. The molten poly flows evenly up and over the circular die
5. The machine operator grabs the molten poly and pinches it together
6. Air ring blows air upward, to avoid sticking together and solidify the molten poly
7. The guides gradually flatten the solidified poly
8. Nip rollers grab the solidified film at the top of cooling tower
9. The lay flat film travels over a series of rollers
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10. The film is wound on a roll and then taken out of line for further processing at a converting
facility
11.
Stage 2
10. The wounded film on a roll taken in of line for further processing
11. Seals bottom of the tubes
12. Separator separates the tubes
13. Pile up stacks of plastic bags
14. Packer inspects product and places in carton
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5. Legal:
Pakistan-Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), EPA Director Amin Baig said that non-
degradable plastic bags were creating problems for the environment as they choked drains and gutters. He
added that it was high time to replace non-degradable plastic bags with degradable ones.
He pleaded the students to create awareness amongst their parents regarding the hazards of non-
degradable plastic bags and compel them to stop using it for the sake of the environment.
The usage of non-degradable plastic is high in the country despite a ban on the manufacturing, purchasing
and selling of non-degradable plastic bags. According to a survey report of EPA, as many as 55 billion
plastic bags are used per year in Pakistan while the amount of plastic use is increasing by 15 per cent each
year. The report disclosed that more than 8,000 plastic manufacturing units are present in Pakistan with an
average daily production capability of 250kg-500kg.
6. Environment:
Pakistan-Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) conducted a study that showed that in the early
1990s as many as 12 billion plastic bags a year were produced in Pakistan. By the years 2007-08, the
production went higher than 55 billion per year. In addition, the projected projection of plastic bags by
2014-15 stood at 112 billion a year. Today 200,000 people directly and 600,000 indirectly involved in
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the production of plastic bags in more than 8,000 manufacturing units spread across the country, mostly
Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.1
Due to environmental pollution problems, Government of Pakistan has imposed a ban on non-
biodegradable plastic bags like other countries to encourage Bio-degradable Plastic Bags. The production
of biodegradable plastic bags does not require a major change of machinery or process. It involves mixing
a small quantity of a petroleum based compound or olefin with the polyethylene resins. The olefin
introduces biodegradation characteristics to the plastic, which are activated when the plastic comes in
contact with air. From there on, bacteria can decompose the weak molecular structure of the plastic.
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References:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1498374/govt-working-on-alternatives-to-plastic-bags-senate-body-told
PAK-EPA – Press Conference (http://www.dawn.com/news/782816/no-more-plastic-bags-in-capital)
https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1143196

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Sapphire Seed Bags:

The Best Case The Most Likely The Worst Case

PRODUCTION PROCESS FLOW:

PAK-EPA – Press Conference (http://www.dawn.com/news/782816/no-more-plastic-bags-in-capital)

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