Teaching Bags: Turning Plastic Bags Into Environmental Allies

May. 26, 2022

Recycling in Colombia is an ever-growing problem. Up to 2021, 78% of households didn't know how to properly recycle, and Bogota, Colombia's capital city, didn't have an organized disposal system for its 8 million people. To make it even worse, the government stated a law for retail stores to deliver orders from e-commerce in plastic bags. In the middle of this turmoil, a national recycling law was introduced, making compulsory the use of the three-colored-plastic-bag system, which led to more plastic waste in a society uneducated towards the process of recycling. 
As one of Colombia’s biggest retail stores, Metro also took the part as one of the biggest plastic bag producers, for its mandatory use due to national laws. So, to take upon one of its biggest challenges, helping the environment while still using plastic bags for e-commerce deliveries, a design solution was introduced: by changing the colors of their regular plastic bags to the ones stated by the recycling law (green for organics, black for disposables and white for reusables and recycling) the daily use of the plastic bag changed in a way they stopped just being wasteful, and started being useful for Colombian households.  

On top of that, each bag was printed with an infographic that turned each bag into a one-page recycling lesson, displaying the right recycling process for each of the disposal categories. And because the best way to learn something new it’s by example, every single order placed on Metro’s e-commerce platform got pre-packed and delivered in a way in which all the products found in one bag, were to be disposed of in that same bag.

For 60 days, thousands of orders were pre-packed and delivered in Teaching Bags, thus giving the people recycling lessons right to their doorstep. As a result, engagement on social media increased by 14%, and positive brand sentiment towards Metro grew by over 60%.  

But most importantly, due to the people’s reaction to the idea, Teaching Bags was turned ready-to-implement social responsibility program for every shop in the country.