In today's globally connected marketplace, a wedding sari in rural north India may become a woman's blouse or cushion cover in a Western boutique. Lucy Norris's anthropological study of the recycling of clothes in Delhi follows garments as they are gifted, worn, handed on, discarded, recycled, and sold once more. Gifts of clothing are used to make and break relationships within middle-class households, but a growing surplus of unwanted clothing now contributes to a global glut of textile waste. When old clothing is, for instance, bartered for new kitchen utensils, it enters a vast waste commodity system in which it may be resold to the poor or remade into new textiles and exported. Norris traces these local and transnational flows through homes and markets as she tells the stories of the people who work in the largely hidden world of fabric recycling.

The alarming level of greenhouse gases in the environment, fast depleting natural resources and the increasing level of industrial effluents, have made every single manufacturing activity come under the scrutiny of sustainability. When all kinds of waste such as clothes, furniture, carpets, televisions, shoes, paper, food wastes etc. end up in the landfill, only a few of them are naturally decomposed and thus a large majority remains as non-biodegradable. It is for this reason, efforts are concentrated to reduce the burden on earth by this waste, and as far as used textile products are concerned, there are now attempts to recycle or up-cycle. This book addresses the role of sustainability by using textile waste in fashion and textiles with respect to manufacturing, materials, as well as the economic and business challenges and opportunities it poses. This wide-ranging book comprises 19 chapters on the various topics including: · Solutions for sustainable fashion and textile industry · Agro and bio waste in the fashion industry · Innovating fashion brands by using textile waste · Waste in handloom textiles · Business paradigm shifting: 21st century fashion from recycling and upcycling · Utilization of natural waste for sustainable textile coloration · Circular economy in fashion and textile from waste · Future pathways of waste utilization for fashion · Sustainable encapsulation of natural dyes from Plant waste for textiles · Agro-waste applications for bio-remediation of textile effluent

This book discusses in detail the concepts of recycling and upcycling and their implications for the textiles and fashion sector. In addition to the theoretical concepts, the book also presents various options for recycling and upcycling in textiles and fashion. Although recycling is a much-developed and widely used concept, upcycling is also gaining popularity in the sector.

For some, recycling is a big business; for others a moralised way of engaging with the world. But, for many, this is a dangerous way of earning a living. With scrap now being the largest export category from the US to China, the sheer scale of this global trade has not yet been clearly identified or analysed. Combining fine-grained ethnographic analysis with overviews of international material flows, Economies of Recycling radically changes the way we understand global and local economies as well as the new social relations and identities created by recycling processes. Following global material chains, this groundbreaking book reveals astonishing connections between persons, households, cities and global regions as objects are reworked, taken to pieces and traded. With case studies from Africa, Latin America, South Asia, China, the former Soviet Union, North America and Europe, this timely collection debunks common linear understandings of production, exchange and consumption and argues for a complete re-evaluation of North-South economic relationships.

This new resource focuses on many recent advances in recycling and reuse of materials, outlining basic tools and novel approaches. It covers such important issues as e-waste recycling, bio-mass recycling, vermitechnology, recovery of metals, polymer recycling, environmental remediation, waste management, recycling of nanostructured materials, and more. Also included is coverage of new research in the use of laser spectroscopy, pyrolysis, and recycled biomaterials for biomedical applications.

‘An interesting and important account.’ Daily Telegraph Have you ever stopped and wondered where your jeans came from? Who made them and where? Ever wondered where they end up after you donate them for recycling? Following a pair of jeans, Clothing Poverty takes the reader on a vivid around-the-world tour to reveal how clothes are manufactured and retailed, bringing to light how fast fashion and clothing recycling are interconnected. Andrew Brooks shows how recycled clothes are traded across continents, uncovers how retailers and international charities are embroiled in commodity chains which perpetuate poverty, and exposes the hidden trade networks which transect the globe. Stitching together rich narratives, from Mozambican markets, Nigerian smugglers and Chinese factories to London’s vintage clothing scene, TOMS shoes and Vivienne Westwood’s ethical fashion lines, Brooks uncovers the many hidden sides of fashion.

The alarming level of greenhouse gases in the environment, fast depleting natural resources and the increasing level of industrial effluents, have made every single manufacturing activity come under the scrutiny of sustainability. When all kinds of waste such as clothes, furniture, carpets, televisions, shoes, paper, food wastes etc. end up in the landfill, only a few of them are naturally decomposed and thus a large majority remains as non-biodegradable. It is for this reason, efforts are concentrated to reduce the burden on earth by this waste, and as far as used textile products are concerned, there are now attempts to recycle or up-cycle. This book addresses the role of sustainability by using textile waste in fashion and textiles with respect to manufacturing, materials, as well as the economic and business challenges and opportunities it poses. This wide-ranging book comprises 19 chapters on the various topics including: Solutions for sustainable fashion and textile industry Agro and bio waste in the fashion industry Innovating fashion brands by using textile waste Waste in handloom textiles Business paradigm shifting: 21st century fashion from recycling and upcycling Utilization of natural waste for sustainable textile coloration Circular economy in fashion and textile from waste Future pathways of waste utilization for fashion Sustainable encapsulation of natural dyes from Plant waste for textiles Agro-waste applications for bio-remediation of textile effluent