Mar 19, 2010

After Natural Disasters, Consumer Purchases Help Small Businesses in Developing Nations Recover and Get Back to Work

Toronto, Ontario – With all of the sadness and tragedy of natural disasters taking place it is uplifting to hear about how a group of resilient women in the Philippines is turning the tide and working hard to put the pieces back together after a devastating typhoon. When all of the international TV crews move on from places like the Philippines, Haiti and Chile, and the grief and shock subside; it is important to learn and appreciate how the communities affected by these powerful natural disasters recover and how people can continue to help these hard-working people rebuild their lives.

In September of 2009, the powerful Typhoon Ondoy struck the suburb near Manila where a Women’s Cooperative is located. The typhoon severely damaged their production facility and equipment, and even more heartbreaking was the loss of the lives of two women of the cooperative and the flooded homes of many more. After grieving the human and personal loss, and then several months of hard work repairing the damage to their production facility and homes, the cooperative is now a shining example of how we can help people and businesses recover from a natural disaster.

“Although we provide relief support, particularly in the form of 5% of our sales going to their relief and scholarship funds, what victims of a natural disaster really want is a sense of normalcy and to get back to work,” says Larry Duprey, the founder of Bazura Bags (www.bazurabags.com) whom is essentially the Cooperatives primary sales and marketing team in North America, even though he is an independent company selling their products. “The women at the Cooperative are not relying on just charity to keep their business going, they are proud of the products they make and want meaningful work and support in the form of well-earned business,” adds Duprey.

Something that people in wealthy nations often overlook is that more than ever we are part of a connected global community, and beyond generous donations, the ongoing long-term success and economic recovery of people in affected regions is linked to the purchasing decisions that people all over the world make on a daily basis. “It is more important that ever for our company to get the word out about their heartwarming story to encourage people to provide support by purchasing their high quality eco-friendly products so they can get their sales back to where they were before the storm,” notes Duprey.

“While the women have worked hard to rebuild their facility and get it back up and running, they are also mindful that their efforts cannot bring back the lives of their beloved colleagues,” says Duprey.

“Their will to rebuild and move on in memory of their friends is inspiring,” adds Duprey.

For more than a decade, the Women’s Cooperative has been utilizing used, colorful and non biodegradable juice containers that would otherwise clutter landfills, fields and streets of their community, to create Bazura Bags. The handcrafted and eclectic bags and accessories add glamour to recycled goods while helping to clean the environment and supporting the livelihood of less fortunate, but empowered women and their families.

With only the help of the local village council, six Filipino women set up the Cooperative which has grown to include over 500 members today. 20% of the members work full time at the Cooperative which organizes schools and groups of adult collectors to gather over 50,000 used juice containers per day. They are washed, sanitized and recycled into a wide variety of fashionable and durable bags, accessories, home furnishings and even footwear that are exported and sold in over 15 countries around the world.

Bazura Bags is one of the first and oldest of the Cooperative’s distributors and marketers of their handmade bags and accessories. The North American company carries the largest selection of bags and accessories from the Cooperative and sells (and therefore fully supports) only Eco bags made by the Cooperative.

By transforming “basura”, the Filipino word for garbage, into a unique collection of eco-chic bags and other accessories, millions of juice containers are kept out of crowded landfills and more resources that would have been used to make products from virgin materials are conserved. Bazura Bags is committed to giving garbage a new life as fashionable new bags and accessories that support the environment and fair trade.

The company hopes their bags will inspire others to recycle post-consumer products into utilitarian items instead of products that ultimately end up in landfills. “We are proud to support the Cooperative and its positive impact on their local community and the environment,” adds Duprey.

Bazura Bags are featured in over 80 styles in bright colors thanks to the colorful juice containers they are made from. The eye-catching labels from the recycled juice containers feature exotic fruit and names like “Sun Glo”. The recycled juice containers also give the bags and accessories a hint of the fresh fruit scent. Bazura Bags enable shoppers with a conscience a guilt-free way to purchase bags and accessories.

Their most popular styles include grocery and market bags, backpacks, coin purses, messenger bags, lunch bags, purses and the Doy bag. “Doy packs” are what the drink containers are called in thePhilippines. New styles include woven bags and bags made from other recycled materials such as recycled rice bags and advertising banners.

Bazura Bags retail from $5.00 to $60.00 and are available at stores in the US and Canada and online at www.bazurashop.com. Repeat buyers always receive a Repeat Buyers Bonus Bag and new customers placing an order over $75.00 (including shipping charges), receive a Bonus Gift Bag. In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day, repeat buyers will also receive a free Bonus Luggage Tag. For more information about the company and its social mission, please visit www.bazurabags.com.