Blog
Team Social Xleration, 18th August 2022
Context
While plastics are a part of our day-to-day life, yet, there is a greater realization of the high level of adverse impacts that they have on human beings. The amount of plastic that is recycled or incinerated in waste-to-energy facilities is very small. Much of the plastics land up in landfills, where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose and release potentially harmful materials into the soil and water. Studies have revealed that consuming plastic could cause cancer, changes in hormone levels, and cardiac damage. Moreover, since most of it ends up in oceans, it poses a grave threat to marine life as well. In this context, the recycling of plastics becomes highly vital. A few companies have come up with a unique solution to this problem by recycling plastic waste into fabrics for apparel production. This write-up provides information on various such initiatives.
Plastic Wastes to Fabrics Initiatives
EcoKaari is a social enterprise that uses a handloom and wooden spindles (charkha) to upcycle plastic waste into handmade fabrics. These fabrics are used to produce fashion accessories, handbags, home décors, and workplace stationery products. This enterprise, which was founded in Pune in 2020, strives to protect the environment while providing employment possibilities for numerous rural craftspeople. The company sources plastics from three sources, first, from environmentally-aware people. Second, from small businesses that use plastic packaging for their food products, and third, from NGOs that collaborate with waste-pickers. After being washed with little water and natural cleaner, these plastics are sun-dried, manually cut into strips, rolled on a traditional charkha, and then woven into a handloom. The design team then assumes control and has tailors sew these fabrics into different products. The company has export partners in many countries. The company’s Founder-Director Nandan Bhat claims to have upcycled more than 2 lakhs of waste plastic bags and wrappers in less than a year.
Another such initiative called ‘Trash To Treasure’ has been started by a teenager, Aditya Banger from Bhilwara in Rajasthan which manufactures durable fabrics out of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-grade plastics and sells them to other businesses to generate wearables and other products. Plastic waste is gathered locally, after which any adulterants are completely cleaned up. Thereafter, it is chopped and melted into fine plastic filament, which is combined with cotton to create fiber. Aditya hit upon this idea after visiting China, where he saw a facility that was turning enormous volumes of waste into fabric. Supported by his family-run textile manufacturing business called Kanchan India Limited, Aditya claims to have recycled more than 10,000 kg of plastic. The company also accepts plastic waste from the general public.
Chennai-based start-up, ‘Ecohike’ is another eco-friendly company that converts PET bottles into T-shirts. A Kathir Esan, Co-founder of Ecohike shares that one T-shirt requires 12 PET bottles for its production, and in this process the company is able to keep 250 g of garbage out of landfills for each T-shirt. The company also found that turning these PET bottles into T-shirts enables it to conserve 2,700 liters of water during production. Additionally, it cuts the CO2 emissions by 3 kg. Another environmentally attractive feature of the T-shirt is that it can be recycled as well. The company encourages its customers to return old T-shirts and provides them a coupon for their next purchase.
Conclusion
These above-mentioned cases are a few examples of resource-efficient and responsible organizations that have taken the plunge to not only address the serious concern of responsibly handling plastic wastes but also use them effectively by turning them into eco-friendly fabrics. Even the bigger companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd acknowledge the challenges posed by plastic wastes and the need to address them. The company last year announced the launch of a high-quality premium fabric – R|Elan™ GreenGold Ecocean extracted from recycled PET bottles. With the threat of plastic waste growing bigger by the day, we need many more such initiatives to urgently address this severe problem.