Our clothes are destroying the planet. Annually, the global textile industry is responsible for approximately 92 million tons of waste. In India, textiles significantly contribute to industrial water pollution, demanding innovative solutions. That is why ReCircle, the leading clean-tech resource recovery innovator, has launched Project Extra Life to tackle India’s textile waste problem and build a more circular future.
With Project Extra Life, ReCircle has established a circular textile waste management vertical as an addition to its existing waste management services and aims to collect, sort and sell at least 570 MT textile waste over the next 12 months. ReCircle aims to reach over 1 lakh + institutions and individuals including fashion houses, textile businesses, hospitality giants, educational institutions, brands, offices, factories, households as well as existing clients within its corporate programme to help close the loop on textiles.
What is ReCircle looking for?
Since launching Project Extra Life in April 2024, ReCircle has collaborated with businesses to recover textile waste and organized Mumbai-based textile waste collection drives for consumer participation.
Whether it is a large manufacturer or a small business, the company offers tailored solutions to handle textile waste efficiently. Here’s how businesses can participate:
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ReCircle offers nationwide participation options and custom plans for bulk contributions in cases where businesses have more than 10 tons of textile waste. The waste can be delivered directly to ReCircle’s Advanced Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Mumbai to:
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ReCircle MRF Dahisar | Material Recovery Facility | BMC R-North Ward Dry Waste Centre, Gaonthan, Anand Park, Dahisar West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400068.
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ReCircle also proposes enabling institutions in setting up textile waste collection drives.
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Fashion houses/textile businesses can reach out to ReCircle to manage their production waste and set up ‘take-back’ programs for customers. Considering the highest value will be captured from post-consumer (wearables) textiles, Project Extra Life will concentrate on this part of the value chain over the next coming months.
“Consumers and brands need confidence through traceability and accountability, tracking the lifecycle of donated clothes, and ensuring they are responsibly recycled and not diverted to landfills. Project Extra Life is an attempt to do just that by building value potential of textile waste, creating a transparent technology-driven value chain, all while focusing on capacity building for waste workers and enabling a more circular textile waste value chain”, said Rahul Nainani, Co-Founder & CEO, ReCircle.
Where does the collected textile material go?
ReCircle aims to collect materials such as cotton, wool, polyester, acrylic, synthetic fibres, nylon, denim, silk, etc. After the textile waste is collected, they are sent to ReCircle’s Advanced Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Dahisar, Mumbai where they are assessed on reusability by ReCircle’s Safai Saathis (waste workers). The collected textile waste, which is beyond repair, is sent to ReCircle’s recycling partners in Surat and Panipat where it is bailed, shredded, and turned into recycled yarn. Based on this, the garments start their Extra Life journey via one of four channels; including:
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Rewear: what can be worn again
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Revamp: what needs a few repairs
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Recycle: what is nearing end of life
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Relife: unusables converted into energy
“With our optimized textile reverse logistics, we offer a solution to the existing long-drawn and expensive process by leveraging data which adds an advantage and provides better supply chain visibility to businesses, leading to benefits such as cost and waste reduction as well as improved brand sentiment. We are positive that we can empower various stakeholders to participate in the formalization and mainstreaming of the textile waste value chain and eventually create a closed-loop textile industry”, said Gurashish Singh Sahni, Co-Founder & COO, ReCircle.
Project Extra Life intends to build the value potential of textile waste, create a traceable and transparent value chain, leverage technological interventions for waste segregation and sorting, improve inefficiencies of waste handlers through capacity building, and foster an enabling environment to pave the way for a more sustainable and efficient textile waste value chain. ReCircle aims to integrate micro-entrepreneurship and create 80-100 indirect jobs for waste workers with the launch of the new textile waste recovery vertical thereby impacting lives and livelihoods.
