Facility will divert textile waste from landfills and support livelihoods.
Bengaluru South City Corporation will inaugurate the city’s first Circular Textile Lab and Solid Waste Management (SWM) Learning Centre at the ward-level integrated SWM Centre in Koramangala.
The initiative aims to reduce textile waste reaching landfills while promoting sustainable waste management, circular practices and livelihood opportunities. The Circular Textile Lab will collect textile discards from Koramangala and adjoining areas and convert them into useful and creative products through a skills-based reuse model.
The lab will also train women from underprivileged communities, helping them develop skills and sustainable livelihood opportunities through the reuse and transformation of textile waste. The model is intended to be scalable and replicable across other wards.
The SWM Learning Centre will serve as a practical learning and capacity-building facility for school and college students, citizens, corporate employees, government personnel, NGOs and solid waste management workers.
Located within an operational waste management facility that processes around 18 tonnes of different waste streams daily, the centre will combine classroom learning with direct exposure to waste-processing activities.
Participants will learn about waste segregation, the seven R’s of sustainability, composting, dry and reject waste management, zero-waste campuses and events, and methods to reduce waste generation at source through interactive programmes, demonstrations, games and facility tours.
Together, the Circular Textile Lab and SWM Learning Centre are designed around a ‘learning-action-impact’ approach, combining awareness, practical solutions, landfill diversion, skill development and livelihood creation.
The initiatives are expected to contribute to Bengaluru’s long-term goal of becoming a cleaner, more resource-efficient and sustainable city while offering models that can be replicated across other parts of the city.
News source: The New Indian Express