In India, Enviu, the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), and the IKEA Foundation have teamed up to create a new circular textile waste model.
The early and seeding phases of the five-year project, which will be conducted as a joint effort of Enviu and CAIF, will be funded by the IKEA Foundation.
By 2026, the five-year project aims to create more than 5000 green employments while preventing at least 20 million kilograms of textile waste from ending up in landfills.
Enviu and CAIF will seek collaborations with manufacturers, brands, and innovators to scale and replicate solutions to manage textile waste in the first phase of this ambitious programme, as well as NGOs and other civil society actors to improve skills and capabilities among trash workers in India.
The initiative will aid in the recovery and reclaiming of value from textile waste, as well as the creation of green jobs for waste workers, who are among the most disadvantaged and underserved groups in society.
The textile and clothing business, like the oil sector, produces massive amounts of waste and pollution. India is one of the world’s top textile manufacturers and importers of old clothes, yet it lacks the infrastructure to handle textile waste, trapping about 4 million informal trash workers in low-paying, insecure occupations.
Enviu and CAIF work together to develop these waste workers’ capacities and skills, as well as create successful circular companies to reclaim value from textile waste.
The concept will also minimise the garment industry’s environmental effect while allowing employees to earn more money and live a better life.
Vivek Singh, the IKEA Foundation’s Head of Portfolio (Employment and Entrepreneurship), noted that green and circular entrepreneurship in India’s textile waste industry gives vulnerable people a way out of poverty while also saving the environment.
The initiative, according to CAIF Director Venkat Kotamaraju, establishes a solid platform for fulfilling the company’s objective of zero leakage of textile waste into the environment and assisting in the decarbonization of the industry’s footprint.
