Letter: With the world consciously trying to leave at least a fewer carbon traces in the sand of time, the textile hub letter, known for its polyester products, also makes efforts to weave more green thinking by adopting natural fibers – biodegradable yarn.
friendly.
After introducing plant cupro-based fibers and viscose rayon, the city is now experimenting with fiber and threads sourced from pineapple, birch wood, bananas and bamboo.
Some products studied and developed locally, while some innovations made abroad also tried to find a footing in the human-made fabric hub.
In addition to fabrics such as nylon, cotton, cupammonium, viscos, linens and several others, almost 80 percent of current fabric products are based on polyester.
Even when around 20 percent of the units have made space for natural fibers, experts do not see dents in polyester growth in attack so fast and that natural fibers will only meet the niche segment.
From the local Cross army for natural fibers, Navsari Agricultural University (NAU) has aggressively marketing banana fibers from Pseudostem Banana King.
“The banana stem of the King which weighed 45 kg was previously considered waste and would really add farmers at an additional fee of Rs 15,000 per hectare to remove eco waste.
But now, with plant-based fiber innovation, farmers can produce from the waste,” JM Patel said, Head of the Land and Water Management Research Unit, Nau.
However, it also has limitations because it is only two percent of 45kg stems that can be reduced as fibers while the remaining material is used in the manufacture of vermicompost and liquid fertilizer.
“Some natural fibers and threads have been available for the past few years but with very few commercial use.
If the commercial production increases, this can be provided with customer-friendly prices,” said Rajnikatn Bachkaniwala, President Mantra, a textile research institution.
Meher International – A private group from the city – making fiber and threads from pineapple waste and bananas.
“We use pineapple leaves to make fibers and then after the long process thread can be lowered.
Farmers usually throw this as waste, but with the technology they can now produce from it,” said Director of the Company, Sumit Agarwal, added that they also worked on development Fiber and thread from bamboo too.
“The thread that comes from bamboo is currently imported and we will soon come up with local-made products,” he added.