Second Level Raw Material Generation from Recycled Textile Waste – An Unexplored Dimension in India

Most countries’ policies on waste management are yet to address themselves to the ever increasing fabric waste pile. This paper is a summary of one of the aspects of the doctoral research conducted by the author on ‘Chindi: An Art of Textile Waste Management’. During the research the author had been seized with the depletion, deterioration and destruction of the Earths ecosystems due to population growth and expansion under rapid waves of urbanization. Changes in habits will have to be implemented to influence the social, economic, technological and environmental factors through increased advocacy, awareness, education, training, practices and informed choices by individuals and communities. 

India generates around 188.5 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per day of which 6% is textiles. The time tried sustained textile use approach of low acquisitiveness, resurrected hand-me-downs practices, as well as an inborn thrift that makes waste of any form sacrilegious, had borne the earliest seeds of reduce, reuse and recycle on Indian soil since ages. The efforts being focused upon in this paper are those of the avowed objective of fabric waste reduction that was being traditionally sanctioned and have continued purposefully and unmitigated in the social interactions of Indian society.