Eco India: How Navi Mumbai Is turning fast fashion into circular economy success

Summary

India generates an estimated 7.8 million tonnes of textile waste each year, with about 51% coming from clothes discarded by consumers. Fast fashion has shortened how long people keep garments, while blended fabrics are especially difficult to recycle. Because textile waste is rarely collected separately and India’s overall waste segregation rate is low, discarded clothes often become contaminated and end up in landfills or incinerators.

A textile recovery facility in Navi Mumbai is testing a more circular approach. Launched by the municipal corporation with the non-profit Tisr and the Textile Ministry, the pilot collects used clothes from neighborhoods and residential societies. Around 80 women from local self-help groups sort the garments by condition and material into categories such as reuse, upcycling, recycling, downcycling, and rejection. A scanner called Kosh helps identify fabric blends, supporting more accurate sorting.

The facility processes roughly 200 kilograms of clothing a day. Items are reused or turned into products including bags, jewelry, stationery, jackets, rugs, tableware, and home furnishings. The center says it makes close to 250 kinds of products and aims to use as much of each garment as possible. Over the past year, it has upcycled nearly 45 tonnes of post-consumer textile waste. A collection van serves about 150 residential societies, though the pilot does not yet cover all parts of the city.

The project aims to formalize textile collection and create value from discarded garments, but it faces limits: some waste is still rejected, and worn or weakened fibers can be difficult to recycle into new materials. A textile-waste expert argues that India needs a comprehensive extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy to encourage more durable design and require brands to support take-back and recycling systems. The civic administration’s target is to upcycle 80 tonnes by next year, and officials hope the Navi Mumbai model can provide a blueprint for other municipalities.

Presenters and Contributors

• Featured contributors: Sejal Sachdeva; Manisha; Smita Kale; an unnamed textile-waste expert
• Voiceover: Soundarya Jayachandran
• Production credits: Field Producer Pracheta Sharma; Video Editor Sujit Lad; Director of Photography Ram Saran; Producer Ipsita Basu; Supervising Producer Nooshin Mowla; Executive Producer Sannuta Raghu