Billions of tons of waste are produced worldwide each year - with no end in sight. How can we deal with it? This week, Eco India looks at the fashion industry, a trash center that helps flowers bloom, and a big, new EV battery recycling plant.
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00:00Sorry, one sec, let me just finish this.
00:20Hello and welcome, I'm Sadhika Tiwari and you're watching Eco India.
00:24Most of us do what I just did with that cup.
00:27We simply throw things away when we're done using them, be it a cup, an old shirt or
00:32a used battery.
00:33But we can do a lot better, let's find out how.
00:38Upcycling is a cool concept but when we think of upcycled clothing, we don't really think
00:43of anything too fancy.
00:45So today let's meet a woman who's turned this notion on its head.
00:49She is a fashion designer who's making waste wearable and trendy.
00:54In a world where the rag trade generates more than 92 million tonnes of textile waste each
00:59year, ideas like this could really make a difference.
01:09My name is Karishma Shahani Khan and...
01:11Okay, I'm just going to start again.
01:16My name is Karishma Shahani Khan and I'm from Pune, India.
01:19I'm the founder of Label Kasha.
01:21We work a lot with Indian textiles and handloom and we do a lot of upcycling and recycling.
01:33I was told by someone in my family that you're such an intelligent girl, why don't you go
01:37study philosophy at Oxford or do something big with your life?
01:40Why are you studying fashion?
01:41You're just a glorified tailor.
01:44But fashion for me is way deeper than just the product that we wear on a runway.
01:49It really talks about where we're at as a country, as the world, and where we may go to.
01:56I would be lying if I said I always wanted to be a fashion designer.
01:59I wanted to be so many different things.
02:00I wanted to be like an air hostess, a pilot, an archaeologist.
02:04I wanted to be a veterinarian, all sorts of things.
02:08But somewhere along the way, I had a book, which my father still has with him, where
02:12I used to draw clothes from Bollywood and actresses in television and movies.
02:17And I would write descriptions of what they were.
02:20And that convinced my father that I want to be a fashion designer.
02:25I studied at London College of Fashion in the UK.
02:27While I was studying there, they were talking about recycling, upcycling, sustainability.
02:31So I thought, oh my God, this is so interesting.
02:33But then when I heard more about it, I realized, oh my God, we've always been doing this.
02:37What is upcycling?
02:38What is recycling?
02:39At home, my mother would never throw anything out.
02:43I thought, I can get a bunch of people together and we can just create this beautiful product
02:48while not being wasteful, while paying people correctly, while not throwing things into
02:53the garbage can.
02:54I think the hardest part of starting the business is always just starting it, like
03:13being like, I'm going to just do this.
03:15I started from like my dad's balcony, then I moved to my mom's office, one part of it,
03:21then we took over a larger part of it and she threw us out and we took another space.
03:24And we had other issues like material, where would the material come from?
03:29How would we source everything?
03:30How would it come in here?
03:31Then also hiring people, like how do you find the right person to get on board?
03:47Yes, it's not easy being a woman.
03:49Yeah, definitely.
03:51Luckily, because I do fashion, female in fashion makes complete sense.
03:55I mean, everyone assumes that a woman will open a boutique somewhere.
03:58So from that point of view, India and women in fashion works.
04:02But if you look around you, most of the people who make fashion or the producers of fashion
04:07are men.
04:08So to sometimes make them trust you and believe you takes a little bit of time, especially
04:14when you're like a 22, 23 year old person, just young, out of college and saying, oh,
04:18let's do this.
04:19Definitely people look at you in a way where they're like, are you sure you know what you're
04:22doing?
04:23Or you're just like papa's little princess who's starting a business.
04:31When I actually got pregnant, I mean, I was asked that now are we going to shut the label?
04:36Is the label going to close?
04:37Because now you're pregnant.
04:38So now means how are you going to work so hard?
04:40So for me, that was one time when I realized that actually I'm a woman.
04:43And once I have a child, people are going to expect different things from me.
04:49I think the founding philosophies of Kasha were just about making something that's not
04:59going to hurt anyone.
05:02We don't say we're sustainable buy from us.
05:05What we are doing is we're saying that let's just be good to each other.
05:08Let's not fleece each other.
05:10Let's not exploit anybody.
05:11Let's make products that are good for our body.
05:13Let's make products that, you know, after making it, our waste can also be utilized.
05:18And let's make products that last for a long time.
05:25When I see people around me thinking and talking about their children's education,
05:30like that for me is very, very heartwarming.
05:34Or when I see them talking about their wives now going to work,
05:37like that makes me realize that we're doing something correct,
05:41where they realize that all these things are so important and crucial.
05:48I think that if we just stop greenwashing,
05:51if we just really just did our job,
05:53and we didn't just use words because they were trends,
05:57like now sustainability is a big trend.
05:59I feel like that needs to change quite like tomorrow.
06:01I mean, today evening, actually.
06:03It needs to change.
06:08While brands like Kasha are changing things up in a great way,
06:11it will take a lot more time.
06:14Only 1% of the total global textile waste is actually recycled
06:18and this is a huge problem for a huge industry.
06:21But there are already solutions that will sooner or later
06:24catch the interest of the fashion industry.
06:28Roughly 10% of all global carbon emissions
06:31stem from the textile industry.
06:33And this is a huge problem for a huge industry.
06:36But there are already solutions that will sooner or later
06:39catch the interest of the fashion industry.
06:42It's also incredibly resource intensive,
06:45guzzling up some 90 billion cubic meters of water annually.
06:49That's 4% of global freshwater usage.
06:52And more than water goes into producing our clothes.
06:55Almost always, these materials go through
06:58heavy chemical processes to make them the way they are today.
07:03Whether it's finishing, whether it's dyeing.
07:06Priyanka Khanna collaborates with brands and producers
07:10to foster sustainable innovation in fashion.
07:13Which is why it is mostly, even the natural materials
07:16aren't really biodegradable.
07:19And it takes sometimes over 200 years
07:22for these materials to biodegrade in the industry.
07:25And that's a big problem because we produce a lot of textile waste.
07:30In the US, textile waste has grown 80% since the year 2000.
07:36Rachel Kibbe runs Circular Services Group
07:39which supports industry and government in reaching sustainability goals.
07:42It is our fastest growing waste stream.
07:45We send over 30 billion pounds of textiles
07:48to landfill every year in the US alone.
07:51Most of our old clothes end up in landfill.
07:54What doesn't is frequently burned.
07:57Unsold stock and donated old clothing
08:00are frequently shipped to the global south for resale.
08:03Such as here in Accra, Ghana,
08:0790% of what arrives is actually considered trash.
08:10The US sends over 600 million kilos
08:13of used clothing abroad every year.
08:16Largely to the rest of the Americas.
08:19While Europe exports over 1.5 billion kilos.
08:22Much of it to Africa.
08:25Often it is dumped, burned or pollutes oceans and waterways.
08:28Textile waste isn't just old, well-worn clothes.
08:31It also includes excess stock
08:35Less than 1% of this material is recycled today.
08:38Which means all of this is going somewhere.
08:41When we collect clothes
08:44they're primarily going to be sorted for reuse.
08:47That's the highest value.
08:50Some of those clothes may be down-cycled
08:53into insulation.
08:56Some may be sold as wiper rags.
08:59And then a small portion can be mechanically recycled.
09:02But mechanical recycling has its limitations.
09:05In 2024, mechanical recycling is the best option we have.
09:08Clothes are chopped up and spun into new fibers.
09:11It's way better than landfills
09:14but often involves a drop in quality
09:17and it's rare that such materials can be recycled again.
09:20But that could soon change.
09:23There are a bunch of exciting new recycling companies
09:26boasting new technology
09:30Firstly, there's chemical recycling
09:33where textiles are broken down to the molecular level
09:36and then rebuilt into various materials.
09:39While some companies only recycle cotton
09:42Australia's Blocktex can recycle blended material
09:45chemically separating synthetic polyester
09:48from natural cotton fibers.
09:51Polyester is converted into pellets
09:54which can be used for textiles
09:57or as materials in construction
10:00while cotton cellulose is turned into clay
10:03that has uses in textiles, agriculture and even packaging.
10:06The flexibility is intentional.
10:09I would never want to be beholden for my outtakes
10:12just to one brand
10:15because I know how badly those brands can behave.
10:18Adrian Jones co-founded Blocktex in 2018.
10:21We prefer Blocktex to have outtakes
10:25rather than just be useful to one
10:28and I think that's been a real difference for us.
10:31In the industry, everybody is preoccupied with making more textiles.
10:34Blocktex recently announced
10:37it will expand capacity to 10,000 tonnes a year.
10:40Refresh Global in Berlin
10:43also emphasises flexibility.
10:46Here, bacteria break down and sanitise textile waste
10:49creating three raw materials
10:52cellulose, ethanol and sanitised textile pulp.
10:55Through Refresh Global's partners
10:58these materials are used to make anything
11:01ranging from furniture to bike frames
11:04to ethanol-based cosmetics.
11:07Refresh Global is a relatively new company
11:10and plans to develop a network of smaller facilities
11:13that can be developed quickly and flexibly with partners.
11:16That's quite different to Sweden's RenuCell
11:19One of the world's biggest chemical textile recyclers
11:22it was among the first to build an industrial-scale
11:25textile recycling facility.
11:28Here, cotton textiles are shredded into a slurry
11:31separated from contaminants
11:34and dried into sheets of what they call circulose
11:37which can replace virgin materials
11:40like cotton, oil or wood
11:43in the production of new, high-quality textiles.
11:46Going down to the molecular level helps maintain quality
11:49and RenuCell says its circulose can be recycled
11:52seven times.
11:55There are limits though. RenuCell can only recycle waste
11:58that's 95% cotton or purer
12:01meaning a lot of what goes to landfill isn't eligible.
12:04RenuCell's recycling plant opened in 2022
12:07with capacity to recycle 60,000 tonnes annually
12:10and room to expand to 120,000.
12:13But in February 2024 came the shock
12:16the company filed for bankruptcy.
12:19Just days beforehand RenuCell told DW
12:22they were recycling far below capacity
12:25and fashion brands were hesitant to commit to recycled materials.
12:28We could be producing a lot more.
12:31Tricia Carey is the chief commercial officer at RenuCell.
12:34Many of the brands
12:37have goals set
12:40for circularity, carbon reduction,
12:43traceability, water goals
12:46a variety.
12:49We are a solution to their goals.
12:52It's how quickly do they want to be able to achieve those.
12:55RenuCell partnered with Levi's
12:58to recycle production waste and include circulose
13:01in their products. H&M became a shareholder in 2017
13:04but still the plant didn't make a profit in its first year.
13:08It has been something that has shocked
13:11most of us working on sustainability of textiles.
13:14Teresa Domenech researches sustainability management
13:17at London's UCL University.
13:20The existing business models in which most
13:23fashion brands are nested
13:26they don't really help for initiatives like RenuCell
13:29to really
13:32be able to make it.
13:36While recycling cuts reliance on water hungry cotton
13:39and oil based synthetics, it's more expensive.
13:42It would take some 7 billion euros
13:45to scale up recycling to hit 20%
13:48of textile waste in Europe by 2030.
13:51There isn't enough push from
13:54the legislation side to force the industry
13:57to actually adopt these materials.
14:00So not that the industry should require forcing
14:03but if it's going to be more expensive material
14:06if it's a transition with the thousands of suppliers
14:09sitting in Asia with all the brands
14:12sitting this side and across the world
14:15it really is a function of information
14:18so them having access to everything
14:21which is not easily done until legislation usually takes a role.
14:24The EU has mandated that by 2025
14:27member countries begin collecting textile waste
14:30separately just like they do with paper, plastic and glass
14:33which should improve on the 22% of waste
14:36that's currently separated.
14:39Mirroring proposed legislation in the US
14:42the EU is also mulling a law requiring producers
14:45to pay for the processing of their textile waste.
14:48We have to ensure that these laws don't just
14:51charge the producers
14:54for one portion of that puzzle
14:57like just collection
15:00it has to also facilitate the infrastructure
15:03for both reuse and recycling and the innovation around that.
15:06Right now recycling isn't profitable
15:09state actors could also set the tone
15:12by adopting targets themselves.
15:15For us to be successful as a recycler
15:18we have to have committed outtakes
15:21and that's where government and private enterprise
15:24play in saying government
15:27particularly as very large procurers of products.
15:30Meanwhile Swedish recycler Renewcel
15:33has found a buyer.
15:36The private equity investor Altor has bought up
15:39the company's remaining assets.
15:42Altor invests in industries that help to reduce carbon emissions.
15:45Textile recycling is one of them.
15:48The company is now to be renamed Circulos like its fibre.
15:51Despite progress in textile recycling
15:54there's still more to be done.
15:57Recycling is still only one part of the problem.
16:00Our current consumption patterns
16:03cannot continue if you want to move towards
16:06a more sustainable industry.
16:09There is a huge amount of overproduction
16:12in the industry and
16:15whoever is responsible for it
16:19bottom line is that overproduction needs to reduce.
16:22The 100 billion garments we produce each year
16:25means 14 for every person in the world.
16:28If we can't convince fashion victims
16:31to stop buying their body weight in clothing
16:34at least we can ensure that as much as possible
16:37of what they purchase is recycled.
16:40Dealing with waste is the same
16:43hard to crack problem across the globe.
16:46We head to the southern state of Tamil Nadu to a trash centre
16:49where garbage is being turned into something very useful
16:52and it is helping new life bloom in a garden
16:55and they aren't just ornamental flowers.
17:00It draws visitors from far and wide.
17:03The Nilgiri mountain railway is one of India's oldest
17:06passing through the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu.
17:11The town of Kunnur is a major stop on the way.
17:14The tourists are very welcome here.
17:17In addition to the rolling tea plantations
17:20the holidaymakers are a key source of income
17:23but there are downsides.
17:2616 tons of waste are produced each day
17:29by the town's 45,000 residents.
17:32Then there's the garbage left by the tourists.
17:35More than 10 years ago
17:38in 2013 after the festival of Diwali
17:41I saw a Facebook post written by one of my friends
17:44stating that they were going to clean the waste
17:47thrown out by the tourists.
17:50So I decided to join in.
17:53Slowly many other volunteers joined us too.
17:56Then we started to dream about cleaning up the river
17:59that runs through Kunnur.
18:02And it was while cleaning the river
18:05that we started looking for a place to dump the waste.
18:09There was no modern landfill site in Kunnur at that time.
18:12So the idea of processing the waste was born.
18:15The volunteer garbage collectors
18:18set up the Clean Kunnur organization.
18:21Their aim? To keep the mountains clean
18:24for themselves and their visitors.
18:27The first step was to separate the garbage into dry and wet waste.
18:30The wet garbage is made up mostly of animal and plant waste.
18:33We collect all the meat waste
18:36in one place inside the wet waste unit.
18:39Then it is shifted to a conveyor pallet
18:42where the non-organic impurities are removed.
18:45After pulverization
18:48it is then mixed with other vegetable and food waste.
18:51This mixture then has to dry.
18:54During this process
18:57it gets regularly opened.
19:00After 40 days
19:03the dry mass is then shredded and ground.
19:06The result is high quality fertilizer
19:09that is bought up by local farmers.
19:12The Ooty flower farm is a regular customer.
19:15For all these flowers
19:18we need a pH value of 6 to 7 in our fertilizers.
19:21And because this fertilizer has that
19:24the flowers grow really well.
19:27It's also rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
19:30and it contains micronutrients too
19:33and secondary nutrients like magnesium, sulphate and calcium.
19:36All these help the plants to grow well
19:39both in quantity and quality with top results.
19:42The waste life of the plants has also increased.
19:45Kunnur now processes two-thirds of its garbage.
19:48Wet waste is turned into fertilizer
19:51and 85% of dry waste is recycled.
19:55We are successfully managing waste
19:58in this small town
20:01with a limited number of people, resources and market.
20:04If we can do that here
20:07it would definitely be possible in larger towns
20:10that have many advantages over us.
20:13In large towns there are no problems with transport
20:16and there's a lot more garbage.
20:19Here we have to do everything by hand.
20:22If larger towns were to manage waste like this
20:25it would also be a great success.
20:31Tourists are again flocking to the town this year
20:34drawn by the famous railway
20:37and because Kunnur is a picturesque town
20:40which has got its waste problem under control.
20:47Moving on to e-waste, let's talk about batteries.
20:51As EVs or electric vehicles take off
20:54there is one big question.
20:57What happens to the used batteries
21:00of the rising number of electric cars?
21:03Let's head to Germany where EVs are gaining traction.
21:06Recycling batteries can be a complex process
21:09but it can be done.
21:12Our reporter checked out a new battery recycling plant in Hamburg.
21:15In the event of an emergency
21:18the batteries are dropped into water as quickly as possible.
21:21When recycling these, the safety requirements are enormous.
21:24A warehouse like this one has to be flooded with foam within minutes.
21:27EV batteries are extremely flammable or explosive.
21:34Since we opened we've been on an interesting journey.
21:37It was pretty exciting even at the beginning.
21:40The first company to do recycling could make a huge fortune.
21:43That's because batteries contain valuable metals
21:46like cobalt and nickel.
21:49We expect 15 million electric vehicles on German roads by 2030.
21:5215 million is practically the day after tomorrow,
21:55economically speaking.
21:58We're visiting Europe's largest recycling plant
22:01for electric vehicle batteries
22:04which opened just a few months ago.
22:07We're standing here on one of the most expensive floors in Germany.
22:10Implementing safety first doesn't necessarily mean saving money.
22:13The floor is absolutely watertight,
22:16several meters thick and equipped with a sensor
22:19that would notify us immediately
22:22if any substances were to seep into the ground.
22:27The batteries delivered have issues
22:30and have been pulled out in the car factories.
22:33However, only a few are still coming here.
22:36Our focus is primarily on testing and implementing new technologies
22:39and then using them.
22:42We're focused on learning as much as we can
22:45to be ready for when the old batteries come out,
22:48when the high volume suddenly arrives.
22:51That high volume will arrive
22:54when the batteries of the first generation of electric vehicles
22:57fail in a few years.
23:00Then big business will beckon with the so-called black mass
23:03and the metals it contains.
23:07Our goal is to recover 95% of our nickel,
23:10which is the most expensive, most valuable ore,
23:13including aluminum and copper, of course.
23:17The world is turning to electric vehicles
23:20and the demand for these metals for batteries
23:23will grow significantly.
23:26By recycling them, manufacturers could reduce the need
23:29to source them from mines with poor working conditions.
23:33We are too dependent on raw materials from third countries.
23:36The material from the German recycling plant
23:39ends up in a pilot plant in northern Europe.
23:42The battery is shredded and using a chemical process
23:45turned into what's known as black mass,
23:48the black gold of the recycling industry.
23:51Among other things, you can extract this green mix of nickel,
23:54manganese and cobalt from it,
23:57which is used in this form for new batteries.
24:02But is the price right?
24:05It's difficult to give exact prices at the moment
24:08because the business is still in development.
24:11What's more, world market prices fluctuate greatly.
24:14That makes it difficult to calculate.
24:19When operations get ramped up,
24:22much of the process will be automated.
24:25However, the batteries still need to be improved
24:28for high recycling rates.
24:31With the new batteries, we can clearly see
24:34that the German car manufacturers are now focusing more and more
24:37on optimizing product design for recycling.
24:40They want to work with us because they are just as interested
24:43in raw materials as we are.
24:46They also want to close the cycle.
24:49And high recycling rates such as for aluminum
24:52have another advantage.
24:55In the end, they're also good for the climate.
24:58Every ton of aluminum that we can return to the smelters,
25:01for example, saves 95% in energy and therefore CO2.
25:04These are the real heroes,
25:07quasi-raw materials compared to raw materials
25:10that we get from the mines.
25:13The operators of the recycling plant have invested millions
25:16in what they believe will be a safe bet.
25:22So many better ways to deal with trash.
25:25You can deal with the trash in your homes in any unique ways.
25:28Do let us know. You can email us or reach out to me directly
25:31on my social media handles.
25:34I will see you next week. Until then, take care. Goodbye.
25:37Namaskar.
25:55.