Garment leftover management embodies the idea of one man's waste being another man's treasure. If used correctly, it has the capability of getting in $4 billion yearly. The idea is to convert the scraps into items significantly demanded in the fashion realm. By doing this, two generally contradictory interests - business growth and addressing climate change – can amicably intersect in each other's path.

In a recent study, Reverse Resources, an Estonia-based software company trying to develop an online market place for garment waste for ensuring its maximum utilization and better value, showed that the total volume of annual leftovers from Bangladesh's garment units is around 400,000 tonnes. If these leftovers are recycled for making new yarns and used in re-manufacturing garments, it will be a business of more than $4 billion.

Using waste from one cycle of production in the next through remanufacturing involves practical challenges but recycling it surely has a business potential within the country's garment sector. The regenerated yarn can capture an emerging market in developed parts of the world, with people becoming more sensitive to environmental impacts caused by industrial pollution. The eco-friendly yarn is used for knitting and weaving products like T-shirts, socks, gloves, towels, home textiles, denims, sweaters etc. And its customers are from as far as the US, Mexico, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Recycled products don't require any dye, chemical and almost no water, making it a sustainable solution to pollution from garment production. The businesses mix scraps of different colours to attain a necessary hue. Fabrics are broken down to fibres once again, carded, spun and then turned into a completely new material. The recycled yarn is 15-30 percent cheaper than the virgin yarn made from cotton. If the garment waste or jhoot is not used, it mostly ends up in landfills or is incinerated, contributing to environmental pollution. 

Source: TheDailyStar