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


Reports illustrate that, among the total wastefrom textile, the largest part comes from the spinning mills, most particularlythe blow room. Spinning is one of the vital industries of India and the 4000 ginning factories around the country produce considerable amount ofwaste during cotton ginning operation. Most of the mills, recover the usefulshort 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 upholsterycloth, curtain cloths, cover cloths, blanket, towels, shirting, quilts,underwear, carpet, industrial roller cloth, electric cabling, hosiery and inthe manufacture of asbestos yarn, paper, linoleum, plastic and regeneratedfibers. Focusing on willow waste, it is too short a fiber, to be used for anytextile application and thus disposed off in the landfills. An investigationreport 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 treatmentapart from disposal as landfill.


A survey report states that 1% of Americanlandfill space was occupied by disposable diapers which take up to 500 years todecompose. Such waste discarded in landfills has no resale value and inaddition to polluting the atmosphere, if not degraded, they get accumulated andspread infectious diseases and foul odour. An increasing amount of waste isgenerated every year from the production and use of textiles and in reality therate of recycling in textiles, is not very high which is an issue to lookforward. For economic and environmental reason, it is becoming increasinglynecessary to recycle as much as possible. At the least 50% of the textiles thatone throws away are recyclable, but in practical only 25% of wastes arerecycled. An outlook on the future market of textiles summit that India isexpected to grow around 3-5% in the area of disposals, sequentially that willincrease such disposal in landfills. Everyday many researches are being done toinnovate new products and technologies but not many focus on the reclaim or abetter alternative of used up and waste textiles that is either incinerated(burnt) or discarded in the landfills.


A researcher in India found that one particulartype of non-reusable waste, namely willow waste can be processed to becomecompost that can enable organic cotton to a viable enterprise. The researchwork aimed at biomanaging cotton waste by means of a three tier system ofenzyme-earthworm-microbe interaction. Pretreatment and enzymatic treatment ofthe willow waste was done to enhance good growth of earthworms. The resultantcompost, without addition of any other activators was purely textile compost,with a very good source of carbon, with appreciable amount of NPK. Theparameters and their values were pH 7.20, Electrical conductivity EC 1.85 dS/m,Total nitrogen 0.62%, Total phosphorous 0.35%, Total potassium 0.52%, Organiccarbon 12.1%, Copper 180 mg/kg, Zinc 210 mg/kg, Iron 35 mg/kg and Manganese 12mg/kg respectively.


On addition of cellulose degraders, nitrogenfixers and phosphate stabilizers the compost can be converted into rich sourceof textile compost as biofertiliser. This is an effective technology formanaging solid organic wastes made of textiles, into a highly beneficialand valuable compost, that can be used as a supplement to increase soilfertility, by creating home for millions of microorganisms with an additionalbenefit of reducing the toxicity of the wastes. Subsequently, in order tostudy the efficiency of the prepared willow waste biocompost, pot culturestudy was carried out for plants with short life span namely marigold, ladysfinger and green gram dhal. Considering the threat of pesticides oncotton cultivation, cotton plant was selected as one among the fourthe plants for pot culture study. The results were highly commendable.Farmers as well as industrialist have to be educated properly about theindustry byproducts and their effective utilisation. Producing such value addedproducts will obviously help the farmers in getting additional income and alsoin meeting the raw material requirement of the industry.


Ona general note, Textile is one of the industry that exorcise maximum pollutionto mother nature and the recent buzz is the abuse of chemicals, in the form offertilizers and pesticides, that has caused a downbeat on the health ofanimals, human and the general ecological balance as well, apart from the factthat they are very pricey. Also, Cotton production alone uses about 25% of theworlds insecticides. Large quantities of chemicals are being used toincrease the production and productivity, with a least concern about theharmful effects induced onto the next generation. The WHO report pointsout, that every year 20,000farmers die because of insecticides and theirharmful effects. Cotton being a very fertilizer dependant crop, has an undisclosedfact: that 65% of the chemicals used during cultivation enter both directly andindirectly into our food chain, which is highly agonizing. Undoubtedly, themanure castings excreted by worms, the so called vermicompost is a veryeffective biofertiliser, which has a high content of readily available mineralsfor plant growth which can be an enormous relief to the above discussed hitch.

The research work was targeted on application of the concept for the recycling waste into wealth. Third world environmentalists havealso recognised the return to the sender policy as, the only effective means of discouraging toxic dumping and the research focuses on the same principle. We all moan and groan about the loss of the quality of life through the destruction of our ecology, and yet each one of us, in our own little comfortable ways, contributes to that destruction daily. Now, we know the science, we see the threat, and this is high time for action. Recollecting the words of the Father of our nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi You must be the change , you wish to see in the world the investigator has made a sincere attempt to initiate all that mankind has and must do that is Recycling wastes and reduce pollution


Waste has now become an index of growth. In the recent decades, the textile industry has begun to face up its responsibility to the environment and to evaluate the impacts of its products and process. Increasing environmental consciousness has forced research and development efforts to search for safe methods in textile production and processing. where ecology may be the next new trend. The research was done by Aishwariya, guided by Dr. S. Amsamani, both from the Department of Textiles and Clothing, Avinashilingam University for Women, India as a part of Masters Degree programme 2008. The extension of this research is now worked by Aishwariya for her doctoral degree, where an attempt is made to study on conversion of hospital textile waste, domestic and post industrial wastes, effluent waste, diapers, sanitary pads and other nonwoven (disposals) into compost and evaluating the properties of the compost made from various textile wastes. The study is targeted on the success of growing cotton using the prepared compost as an aid and new innovation in the cultivation of organic cotton.


The concept can be explained to the Textile mill owners and Tamil Nadu Agriculture University and a MoU/Tie ups can be made, so that textile waste can be vermicomposted and the resultant compost can be useful for the cultivation of cotton in the organic way. Further the study can be extended on to comparing the fiber properties of the cotton plant that is cultivated using textile compost made from various textile waste and the readily available commercial fertilisers. The theory can be made more effective by demonstrating the concept of recycling textile waste into compost to the women of Self Help Groups (SHG) which can provide them a means of mending money with a happiness that they have contributed to make earth a better place to live in. The idea can be brought to the notice of the municipality and Corporation departments so that they can allocate separate bins to collect textile wastes and thereby the wastes can be sent for recycling. This is a new beginning which will throw smiles on my poor hard toiled farmer, by reducing the dependence, on costly and hazardous chemicals and pesticides.


"Remember the earth is not owned by you, but loaned by you for the next generation"


Authors are associated with the department of textiles and clothing, Avinashilingam University for women, Coimbatore, India


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