Indian Union Textile Minister Giriraj Singh recently visited the Textile Recovery Facility (TRF) in Navi Mumbai, where he called for strengthening textile recycling and circularity. The facility aims to divert pre- and post-consumer textile waste from municipal landfills through collection, sorting, upcycling and recycling, thereby reducing environmental burden.

During the visit, Singh was briefed on the full process, from automated sorting and fiber identification to shredding and secondary material recovery. He acknowledged the facility's role in reducing textile waste and proposed extending this model beyond the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) jurisdiction to broaden its impact.

The visit coincided with the anniversary of the establishment of the Indian Textile Committee, during which the Textile Committee and Refibre signed a letter of intent to jointly develop a digital textile circular infrastructure platform. The platform will cover functions such as collection, traceability and impact assessment of post-consumer textiles, aiming to enhance transparency and efficiency across the recycling industry chain.

Singh also paid special attention to sorting technology developed by Kosha, which can automatically separate discarded clothing by fiber category. He praised the collaboration among the Textile Committee, NMMC, SBI Foundation and Tisser Artisan Trust in building an integrated textile waste collection and recycling system.

In his concluding remarks, the minister emphasized that broader adoption of such recycling and circular systems would not only help reduce dependence on natural resources but also support India's climate commitments and potentially position India as a global hub for sustainable textile manufacturing.

Source: India textile minister pushes circularity at Navi Mumbai recovery hub · Originally published on 2026-08-24