MoU To Promote Upcycled Products Made From Textiles Waste
A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at the just concluded Bharat Tex 2024 for the promotion of upcycled products made from textiles waste and scrap.
The MoU was signed by the Textiles Committee, Government e Marketplace (GeM), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), Department of Public Enterprises.
Darshana Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles graced the occasion along with senior officers from the Ministry of Textiles, while PK Singh, CEO at GeM, was also present.
On behalf of the respective organisations, the MoU was signed by SP Verma, Secretary, Textiles Committee, Ajit Chavan, Additional CEO, GeM, and SubhRatna, General Manager, SCOPE.
Upcycling essentially means repurposing textile waste and scrap to extend its life cycle. Through upcyling, discarded items are transformed into new products of greater value and functionality.
Sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain are essential to minimise the adverse effects of the linear supply chain.
Unlike recycling, which breaks down materials to their base state to create new products; upcycling creatively reuses existing materials without altering their basic structure.
This significantly reduces the energy, chemical, and water consumption of the process as well as their impact on the environment.
GeM will work with stakeholders in the upcycling ecosystem, especially under-served seller groups, to provide them direct market linkages in public procurement, sans intermediaries, through GeM Outlets.
Further, GeM will also work towards engaging all stakeholders in the textiles upcycling sector through advocacy, awareness, outreach, mobilization and capacity building of last-mile upcyclers.
This will be done through stakeholder consultations and design of technical specifications for the listing of upcycled product catalogues for procurement by government buyers.
