By: Avinash Mayekar
In today’s context, there are 2 driving trends in the textile industry, green textiles and technical textiles. When we talk of green textiles it covers everything from circularity, and sustainability to adopting organic processes. Simply stating, green textiles can be described as an element that is kept afloat by three main pillars –Recycle, Reuse & Reduce.
Recycle: It means we need to have our own established way of using whatever waste is being generated to re-introduce in our production line or generate by-products from it. However, as far as our textile industry is concerned we are not yet using recycled fiber on a very big scale. Let us understand the reason for the lower scale with an example of the cotton fiber our staple fibre. In cotton spinning, we almost get utilization of 70 -75% of yarn realization when the combing process is used. Now this ¼ of the pie share reduction of fibre in a single step is done to get end yarn which is more efficient and has great strength. So 25% fiber waste is a necessary reduction to remove the short-length fibers. So here comes the dilemma where the process demands reduction for quality and high-strength end product but the green world norms are demanding waste utilization. This is where the manufacturer of today is stuck. But step-by-step decoding is needed. Onset retail demands recycled fiber utilization which is not just the process waste but it speaks of the thousands of landfill waste. So by using these types of pre and postconsumer waste, we need to adopt the recycling process that the green world is demanding.
It is a simple adoption by introducing the sorting of the fiber by type/color, followed by the fiber opening line, and then selecting the fiber strands having a much higher length of recycled fiber to ensure that the yarn strength is not compromised. These recycled fibers can then be introduced into the yarn process to make recycled yarns sold to other manufacturers as only recycled fiber for utilization in their process. Different types of garments, specialized garments, or technical textiles are then produced from these recycled fibers depending on the blend percentage and ratios of fiber contained in it as well as the shades of recycled fiber.
Reuse: There is a very thin line between reuse and recycling. So to put it simply the above-recycled fibers can be considered a recycling process if an end value-added product is being developed by the manufacturer in the same plant. Or one can say the recycled fibers then generated can be re-used in different processes to produce the end finished garment or technical textiles materials like
1. Needlepunched felt for use as insulation material, exhibition carpets, recycled filter fabrics, and many more.
2. There is also a growing demand for hygiene products worldwide and the manufacturers in India can also look into using the waste comber noil for creating bleached cotton hygiene products
3. Geotextiles like nonwoven geobags near river banks, geo felts for dams
Reduce: Here we need to reduce every element of the manufacturing process. To be honest this is the one where everyone is focusing however there is always room for extra reduction. Reduction in raw material consumption, power, and utility usage reduction. So this if we see on a broader scale is waste management, producing zero waste is the mantra. So we need to see for spinners that the waste is only the short fiber waste and we do not lose good length fibers in the process. Basically, it is the maximum utilization of the process with minimalist consumption of raw materials. These two words need thorough study right from auditing for a snapshot of existing scenarios to benchmarking process for bringing the plan into action and delivering a system that enables us to reduce the operating cost and increase our profitability.
We need to cross-verify all systems and improve efficiencies, reduce downtime of machines with scheduled maintenance checkups, adopt green practices for power cost reduction, introduce automation and monitoring systems like ERP, and most importantly create cross-link the department systems for common goals.
Conclusion:
There is a lot of scope for utilizing the existing resources through waste management to develop into functional products and create an innovative product basket. Thorough in-depth knowledge of the product is what will help a true business person to innovate his existing product basket & meet the challenges of changing world dynamics. Since technical textiles are developed for high performance & attribute-specific functionality, there is zero tolerance for quality compromise. Complete technical know-how right from selection of suitable technology to suitable market selection that will help distinguish successors from followers. In today’s scenario, entrepreneurs may not consider taking huge-scale investment risk it is however the game of smart investments at the right time into innovative products.
If we can combine recycle fibres and needle punched products for various end use applications then profitability will be much higher.
We at Suvin having experts worked in the textile industry for more than 30 years are capable of carrying out market research, techno-economic feasibility & technology selection. We believe in preparing business models with refreshing ideas and techniques that will help in identifying weak areas that remain unnoticeable but play a vital role in increasing profitability & global competitiveness. We handhold a customer till the implementation of the project & assist with manpower recruitment & marketing assistance as well.