Tirupur Garment Manufacturers To Comply With Waste Recycling Norms

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Tirupur Garment Manufacturers To Comply With Waste Recycling Norms

The Tirupur civic body in alliance with Tamil Nadu pollution control board (TNPCB) is coming up with concrete measures to turn eco-friendly in their manufacturing process by recycling of plastics and disposable waste generate by the textile industry. As Tamil Nadu exporters are exempt from the ban on single-use plastics, the apex bodies have combined to put up this effort. . Export oriented garment units were allowed to use polybags initially. Subsequently the exemption was granted to manufacturers catering to the domestic customers. The pollution control board and the civic body decided to resolve the plastic waste issue by using recycling of plastic waste. Approximately 20 tonnes of polybags get manufactured by nearly 500 units every day. These polybags are used both in domestic and export knitwear. The thickness of the polybags ranges from 20 microns to 60 microns. Primary packing of garments take up bulk of the polybags that are manufactured. However, polybags used in covering fabrics while being transported to the next stage of production is also significant. This generates upward of 500 tonnes of waste per month besides another 200 tonnes of foam waste. Foam waste too is a banned item in states other than Tamil Nadu. Environmental engineer from Tirupur, K Senthil Vinayagam, said, “It’s not a blanket exemption. We have to fulfill the Extended Producer Responsibility (ERS). Each polybag should contain the name of the knitwear units. In addition the TNPCB approval is required. In addition, it’s mandatory that each of the polybags go for waste recycling.”