This recession time could be the best time for someone with an enterpreneurial spirit.
If someone is thinking about the green revolution, about saving the environment in the long run, the word "plastic" might come to his/her mind.

 Today, plastic bag industry is worth more than a billion dollar, and with the same high magnitude is a threat to the environment.

 In under developed and developing countries like India, China, Brazil, most Asian countries, the dominance of plastic bags is huge. For this there can be 3 reasons:

1. People are not concerned/ignorant about environment
2. Plastic bags are cheap
3. There is no other alternative

  I don't think,  people don't care about environment, given the increasing literacy and awareness in the world.

 Yes, plastic bags are indeed cheaper, if compared to prevalent paper bags, given by most brands like Levis, Gucci, etc.. That is the reason why only premium brands can use such costly paper bags and not the small and medium scale shopkeepers and brands around the world.

  But, what if some innovation is brought in the bag industry, which takes care of both the cost and the environment. Just to cite an example, there is one such company named Haathichaap (www.haathichaap.com), which is producing paper bags and other paper products.This company is producing the paper not from the traditional "tree based paper" approach, but from the poo of the elephants. This not only protects the trees, but also uses the elephant poo , which would have been useless otherwise(because it can't be used as a fertilizer).Also it is cheaper and organic .There is no poo smell too in the product.

  So if such an innovation is used to produce the paper bags and the cost is brought down as par with the tarditional paper bags, the company will not only profit hugely but also will help the environment.