Coast company reaping the
AS shoppers grappled with the ban of single-use plastic bags this month, this Gold Coast couple was bracing for the opportunities the new law presented for their business.
Raj Makanjee and Hina Makanjee took on reusable bag company Envirotrend in February and moved its head- quarters from Brisbane to Molendinar.
Ten of the company’s 15 staff are now based on the Coast, with the bags designed in Australia and manufactured in China.
The July 1 ban saw Coles, Woolworths and most independent supermarkets scrap the ubiquitous thin grey grocery bags.
The ban is expected to keep more than five billion of the flimsy environmental hazards from landfill nationwide each year.
Mr Makanjee said sales of their bright, foldable reusable bags had been climbing for months ahead of the Queensland ban.
“There is a lot of interest at the moment,” he said.
“Sales have increased 20 per cent year-on-year, but having
said that, we’ve had an increase in (wholesale) customers of 50 per cent.”
The company, which also sells luggage, backpacks and raincoats, is largely a wholesaler, but also sells direct to the public online.
The couple already had a 12-year track record in the import and wholesale sector, having operated a fashion accessory company before taking on Envirotrend.
Mr Makanjee said although the reusable bag sector was increasingly crowded, the local company’s advantage was its quest for product durability.
“You’ve got to have a point of difference as at the moment there are a lot of cheap bags flooding the market,” he said.
“Envirotrend has always had its strength in quality Australian design and print, and our bags are good quality. I was at a trade show in Brisbane last week and a customer there had an Envirotrend bag that was eight years old.
“That durability is where you can really make a difference to the environment.
“For a lot of the bags out there it’s questionable how much they’re helping the environment if they’re only going to contribute to the waste.”