India generates 8.5% of the world’s textile waste, a significant portion of which comes from pre- and post-production processes in the garment and textile industries. Yet, much of this waste—whether surplus fabric, defective pieces, or discarded garments—ends up in landfills or incinerators, contributing to environmental degradation.
Why should you rethink textile waste?
The Scale ofTextile Wastein India:
- Pre-production: The clothing industry creates a lot of waste. Before clothes even reach the store, a big chunk of fabric gets tossed out. This includes scraps, unused rolls, and clothes with mistakes
- Post- production: After clothes are made, the waste problem gets worse. Stores often have too many clothes that don’t sell, and people return a lot of them. Plus, with fast fashion, we buy and throw away clothes faster than ever
- Environmental impact: This waste pollutes the land, air, and water. Many clothes are made from plastic-like materials that take a very long time to break down. As they break down, they release tiny pieces of plastic and harmful chemicals into nature
Goonj’s Approach to repurposing textile waste
The Goonj Way of using this underutilised cloth over 25 years is embedded in the core of its circular economy thinking. The Goonj Centre of Circularity is the place where Team members ( didis) value add to the life of these clothes through a detailed reuse, repurpose, and upcycle. This is done with three thoughts; one, give the best of wearable cloth as is, recognising cloth as a basic need, to rural communities. Two, the unwearable cloth gets turned into products for the use of rural communities, addressing their many neglected needs. Three, think of this process of value addition to cloth, as a creator of dignified livelihood, especially for women out of the mainstream workforce.
Cloth Pads – addressing neglected basic need of menstrual wellbeing
India is home to a significant portion of the world’s adolescent female population, yet many, particularly those in rural areas, encounter severe limitations on their autonomy and agency. These restrictions intensify during menstruation. A significant number of adolescent girls in India drop out of school each year due to limited mobility, inadequate school sanitation, and the social stigma associated with menstruation. This situation further intensifies by widespread misinformation about puberty and menstruation, limited access to menstrual hygiene products, and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, leading to poor menstrual hygiene practices.
Poor menstrual hygiene can have severe consequences, including reproductive and urinary tract infections, skin irritations, and other reproductive health issues. Moreover, it hinders women’s educational and economic progress. To achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3,4, 5 and 8) related to health, education, gender equality, and economic empowerment necessitates ensuring safe and dignified menstruation for all women.
In 2005, following the devastating Tsunami in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Goonj first worked on more than 100 truckloads of cloth given by the people of the country, lying wasted on the roads of Chennai. Goonj brought together 40 local women from nearby slums of Chennai, to sort this mammoth cloth pile. This process lasted close to 2 years, in which one of the big insights was around turning the cotton and semi cotton cloth into making simple cloth pads. These pads later came to be called MY Pads.
Truckloads of cloth in Chennai after the 2005 Tsunami
We know that cloth is a basic need of a woman as is her self-respect and dignity. The symbiotic relationship between these two highlights how a humble piece of cloth can play an important role in women’s life. That is also why the Menstrual wellbeing of millions of women is a Human Issue…
Impact of menstrual hygiene on women’s empowerment
In Krishnapur Puranapara, West Bengal, women leveraged Goonj’s cloth pads as a starting point to address menstrual health and related issues in their community. Lack of private spaces for bathing and hygiene led them to construct five changing rooms using locally available materials. This small yet transformative step reduced waiting times, improved safety, and restored dignity. These projects showcase how cloth, a seemingly simple resource, can act as a catalyst for larger systemic change. Last year, over 3,000 community-led action projects across India tackled issues like water, sanitation, and hygiene, all initiated with the contribution from repurposed materials.
Before Image of community-led changing rooms
During Image of community-led changing rooms construction
After image of community-led changing rooms construction
(Read our latest Annual Report 2023-24 to know more)
How cloth pads are changing lives?
- Affordable and Sustainable Solution: Cloth pads offer an environment friendly alternative and reduce the landfill burden while providing an affordable option for rural communities.
- Economic Impact: Repurposing cloth waste generates livelihoods, especially for women engaged in producing these products
- Environmental Benefits: Diverting cloth waste from landfills and incinerators reduces carbon emissions, conserves resources, and supports India’s sustainable development goals
- Social Impact: Cloth pads are not just functional but serve as a tool to spark conversations about menstrual health, hygiene, and women’s well-being in communities where silence and stigma prevail
A National Opportunity
India’s textile waste is not just an environmental problem—it’s a missed opportunity to:
- Empower Rural Communities: Redirecting textile surplus can address basic needs like menstrual hygiene, clothing, and bedding.
- Generate Cloth Based Employment: The process of collecting, sorting, and repurposing cloth waste can create thousands of jobs, especially for women and marginalised groups.
- Reduce inequality: Bridging the gap between urban abundance and rural scarcity fosters equity and inclusion.
When urban India and the textile industry starts to channelise its underutilised cloth for pads making, it will bring about a bigger ripple effect. Not just in creating a rural market for menstrual products, it will also help address the environmental damage which happens due to bad cloth waste disposal but also due to non biodegradable one time use sanitary pads. The implications for rural women’s menstrual and reproductive wellbeing is something of a multiplier impact that will emerge.
It’s time to reimagine India’s underutilised textile/cloth as a lifeline for its wellbeing and development. As India moves towards a sustainable future, let’s ensure no resource—especially something as abundant and transformative as cloth—is wasted. In Goonj’s 25 year journey we have evolved thousands of ways in which surplus underutilised cloth and other material has been turned into a currency for change, empowering communities and a greener future.
Our invitation to you is, start from where you are.. From a small change of starting a Goonj kee Gullak or Team 5000, joining a long and deep change process, or things in between- organising a collection drive, a volunteering journey, an internship, or simply walking with us signing for a Goonj monthly newsletter subscription.. More on www.goonj.org or write to [email protected].
Many options, but the choice is always one; Taking Action..
References
IndiaSpend, “Textile Waste: A Growing Environmental Concern,”
https://www.indiaspend.com/industry/textile-waste-a-growing-environmental-concern-932145
