Source: Textile Review

India is one of the developing industrialist countries in the world. Due to the increase in the number of industries there is considerable increase in the amount of industrial waste. The waste from textile industry is also increasing at alarming rates which are hazardous to the environment. As a part of global warming, recycling of products is much focused. This is motivated us to do some justice to Mother Nature by utilizing the waste in a meaningful way. When we came across the properties of the coir fibre waste and cotton micro dust we realized that both the above-mentioned waste has the content which is found to be dominant in the soil that assists plant growth. We planned to develop a composite with these materials and necessary addition of organic nutrients to supplement the inherent nutrient deficiency of the raw materials. The composite is manufactured using hydraulic pneumatic machine after necessary pre-treatment to the raw materials. Required tests are carried out on the composite for growth related parameters. On confirming the aspects of the raw materials that assist plant growth it was decided to practically test the rate of growth of various plants and compare them with that of the soil. This is a sure beginning of new era of waste disposal and shall create a new revolution in the days to come.

One very important problem the world is going to face is that of the ever increasing population and so there is not much space left to live. So people have started cutting down forests and occupying cultivable areas. This might someday lead to a situation where there will be very less or even no land to cultivate plants or trees. So we decided to put to use the textile wastes to be used as a total substitute for soil so that we would be able to use our composite for cultivating plants and trees. The properties of coir fibre waste and cotton micro dust and found that some of their properties correspond to that of soil and so they might facilitate plant growth effectively if supplied with additional nutrients. One important factor that cause this environmental hazard is the ever growing amount of waste this are left indisposed because of the fact that they cannot be disposed easily. These include waste from industries such as textile wet processing, spinning etc. These wastes have and will influence the environment in a great way. In this globalize era of civilization the onus is on eco friendliness of the products and the wastes. The industries are facing a big problem in the disposing of their wastes without creating harm to the environment. In this view point, this article will help in utilizing the waste and solve the problem of disposing it and at the same time provides an overwhelming opportunity for an eco friendly application that might mean the future of the world with respect to co existence of man and wild life.

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About the Authors:

D. Gopalakrishnan is associated with South India Institute of Fashion Technology, Coimbatore, D. Tamilalagan is in Department of Fashion Technology, Sona College of Technology, Salem and Kamatchi Gayathri in Department of Textile Technology Jaya Engineering College, Chennai

Originally published in Textile Review; June 2009- Vol 4- Issue-6