Govt lines up textile recycling clusters
Taking up measures to add economic value to waste, while reducing its volume
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi The central government has started the process to manage the textile waste value chain and develop solutions for waste valorization. Waste valorization is the practice of adding economic value to waste, while reducing its volume.
At present, the entire textile chain operates in an almost linear manner, resulting in a huge quantity of waste material, which ends up in landfills; some of it is also incinerated. Textile-to-textile waste recycling is estimated to be lower than one per cent, official sources told Bizz Buzz, adding that the business-as-usual approach is unsustainable.
The need of the hour is coordinated action from all stakeholders to promote a circular textile value chain, they said. They favor circularity—that is, the shift from the take-make-dispose linear value chain into a circular system, where materials are not lost after use but remain in the economy, circulating as long as possible at the highest possible value.
Many countries have prepared action plans to promote sustainable textiles to restrict the movement of products in a non-sustainable manner. The European Union (EU), for instance, has implemented the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles which requires, by 2030, textile products placed on the EU market to be “long-lived and recyclable, to a great extent made of recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances and produced in respect of social rights and the environment.”
India, which has the second-largest vertically integrated textile industry in the world, has an opportunity to position itself as a global hub for circular textiles by establishing textile recycling clusters, the officials said. This requires a clear understanding of the fragmented value chain and multiple players involved in the organized and decentralized sector to identify policy prescriptions needed to introduce targeted incentives. The Ministry of Textiles will soon engage a consulting agency that will assess the current state of textile waste and associated industry for crafting policies to make India a global hub for sourcing sustainable and circular textiles and garments, the officials said.
