The textile industry is one of the largest industries in India, generating vast amounts of waste during production cycles. Textile waste contributes to environmental issues, occupying space in landfills, emitting greenhouse gases, and polluting the environment. The annual production of millions of tonnes of clothes for fast fashion results in significant waste, including cutting waste, trims, and garment rejects. Upcycling aims to breathe new life into this production waste, transforming it into useful and sustainable products. This process transforms discarded items into new products of higher value, functionality. Unlike recycling, which breaks down materials to create new ones, upcycling creatively reuses existing materials without altering their basic structure. Upcycled products are gaining popularity, offering sustainability, attractiveness, and economic benefits.
With an view to promote the sustainability and circularity in textile, the Textiles Committee, Govt. of India, Min of Textiles has inked a tripartite MoU with Government e-Martket Palce (GeM) and Standing Conference Of Public Enterprises (SCOPE). This MoU is solely for the purpose of promoting the Upcycled textile products made from post production textiles waste and scrap. Shri S P Verma, Secretary Textiles Committee represented Textiles Committee, Shri Ajit B Chavan, Additional Chief Executive Officer represented GeM and Shri Shubh Ratna, General Manager(Tech & HR) represented SCOPE. As per the tripartite agreement, the Textiles Committee will recognize the upcycled textile manufacturers by following a suitably developed standard operating procedure. The Governemtn e-market Place (GeM, which is the one point source for all government procurement facilitates the onboarding of such certified upcycle textile manufacturers. The SCOPE which is an apex professional organisation representing the Central Government Public Enterprises, popularize the upcycled textile materials among various public sector undertaking for their routine use. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the Mega show BharatText 2024, New Delhi in the august presence of Hon’ble Union Minster of State for textile Smt. Dharshana Jardosh. Smt. Rachna Shah, Secretary (Textiles), Smt. Prajakta L Verma, Joint secretary (Fiber) Sh. Rajiv Saxena, Joint Secretary, Smt. Roop Rashi, Textiles Commissioner, Ministry of Textile, Govt. of India, Sh. Prashant Kumar Singh, CEO, GeM were also present.