Through Saamuhika Shakti, the H&M Foundation is boosting inclusive circularity in the textile sector by welcoming two new partners building circular textile waste models, with Bengaluru’s garbage pickers taking the lead. Stichting Enviu Nederland (Enviu) and Intellecap’s Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF) are the two new partners.
In addition to the current collective, Enviu and CAIF will divide trash employees from the Saamuhika Shakti project into two work streams, according to a press statement from the H&M Foundation.
CAIF will spearhead the waste-entrepreneurship concept, aggregating and segregating post-consumer textile waste through Bengaluru’s existing Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs). There, CAIF will collaborate with 6-7 trash entrepreneurs running DWCCs to implement the Circular Textiles trash Model by constructing textile waste sorting capacity at their facilities and educating waste sorters and garbage pickers in processing this type of waste. Their intervention will focus on assisting trash pickers to create cash by collecting, classifying, and selling textile waste.
Enviu will begin by developing a circular B2B textile service model for the hotel sector. Garbage hotel linen will be recycled and reintroduced into the loop as new towels, with garbage pickers involved. Enviu plans to collect and eliminate 30-35 tonnes of cotton waste processed by waste employees from landfills by December 2023. Enviu also intends to engage waste employees in other livelihood options such as hotel laundry, logistics, and warehousing. This new textile recycling setup inside the H&M Foundation’s project Saamuhika Shakti contributes to a broader multi-year textile-recycling plan across India, bringing a social perspective and ensuring that trash pickers’ opinions are heard. The Ikea Foundation is also providing seed funding for the more significant project.
“Our goal is to generate new revenue streams from textile waste.” “Through this initiative, we are promoting inclusive circularity and improving the livelihood opportunities of waste pickers,” said Maria Bystedt, strategic lead at the H&M Foundation. India is responsible for 8.5% of worldwide textile waste creation. Domestic post-consumer collection accounts for 51% of total textile waste circulation in the country, 42% originates from pre-consumer sources, and 7% is imported post-consumer garbage. Textile waste management innovations are emerging. However, the economic value chain currently bypasses the trash picker.
