New Generation Textile Recycling

Perspective of age old days: population was less, needs were few and resources were abundant. The generation of waste was such that it got naturally recycled, being mostly biodegradable. Conversely, after the advent of industrial revolution, different types of wastes came into existence which are often both non-biodegradable and highly hazardous. Production is always associated with some form of pollution and in specific cotton cultivation, production and processing, releases various types of waste at every level.

Reports illustrate that, among the total waste from textile, the largest part comes from the spinning mills, most particularly the blow room. Spinning is one of the vital industries of India and the 4000 ginning factories around the country produce considerable amount of waste during cotton ginning operation. Most of the mills, recover the useful short fibers from the blow room waste by passing them through willow machines, that inturn leaves a non resalable residue called “willow waste”. The scope of the waste from cotton industry extends its products to upholstery cloth, curtain cloths, cover cloths, blanket, towels, shirting, quilts, underwear, carpet, industrial roller cloth, electric cabling, hosiery and in the manufacture of asbestos yarn, paper, linoleum, plastic and regenerated fibers. Focusing on willow waste, it is too short a fiber, to be used for any textile application and thus disposed off in the landfills. An investigation report denotes that, the total amount of willow waste generated in India is about 80, 000 to 85, 000 tons per annum, and this obviously needs proper treatment apart from disposal as landfill.

A survey report states that 1% of American landfill space was occupied by disposable diapers which take up to 500 years to decompose. Such waste discarded in landfills has no resale value and in addition to polluting the atmosphere, if not degraded, they get accumulated and spread infectious diseases and foul odour. An increasing amount of waste is generated every year from the production and use of textiles and in reality the rate of recycling in textiles, is not very high which is an issue to look forward. For economic and environmental reason, it is becoming increasingly necessary to recycle as much as possible. At the least 50% of the textiles that one throws away are recyclable, but in practical only 25% of wastes are recycled. An outlook on the future market of textiles summit that India is expected to grow around 3-5% in the area of disposals, sequentially that will increase such disposal in landfills. Everyday many researches are being done to innovate new products and technologies but not many focus on the reclaim or a better alternative of used up and waste textiles that is either incinerated (burnt) or discarded in the landfills.

Source : articlesbase