H&M Foundation, Enviu, & CAIF boost textile recycling in Bengaluru

Together with the existing collective, Enviu and CAIF will include waste workers already within the Saamuhika Shakti programme into two work streams, H&M Foundation said in a press release.

CAIF will lead the waste-entrepreneurship model and use Bengaluru’s existing Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) as a network of hyperlocal centres to aggregate and segregate post-consumer textile waste. There, CAIF will work with 6-7 waste entrepreneurs running the DWCCs to adopt the Circular Textiles Waste Model, by building textile waste sorting capacity at their centres and training the waste sorters and waste pickers in the handling of this kind of waste. Their intervention will focus on enabling textile waste collection, sorting, and selling to generate revenue for waste pickers.

Enviu will work to create a circular B2B textile service model, starting with the hotel industry. Waste hotel linen will be recycled and brought back into the loop as new towels, integrating waste pickers in the process. By December 2023, Enviu looks to collect and divert from landfills close to 30-35 tons of cotton waste sorted by waste workers. Enviu also aims to employ waste workers in alternative livelihood opportunities in the hotels’ laundry, logistics, and warehousing services.

This new textile recycling setup within H&M Foundation’s initiative Saamuhika Shakti is contributing to a larger multi-year textile-recycling programme across India, adding on a social perspective and ensuring that the voices of waste pickers are part of the equation. The larger programme is also seed funded by Ikea Foundation.

“Our goal is to generate additional income streams through textile waste. Through this initiative, we are promoting inclusive circularity and improving waste pickers’ livelihood opportunities,” said Maria Bystedt, strategy lead H&M Foundation.

India accounts for 8.5 per cent of global textile waste generation. Out of total textile waste circulation in the country, domestic post-consumer collection contributes 51 per cent, 42 per cent comes from pre-consumer sources, and 7 per cent is imported post-consumer waste. Innovations in textile waste management are emerging, but as of yet, the economic value chain bypasses the waste picker.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)