IIT-Delhi develops a method to recycle denim waste into high-quality garments

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi) have developed a method to recycle denim waste into high-quality knitted garments without compromising on durability or comfort.

How will the innovation help reduce textile waste?

India produces nearly 3.9 million tonnes of post-consumer textile waste annually, most of which ends up in landfills. This innovation offers a promising solution to one of the textile industry’s most serious environmental problems.

The research is led by Prof Abhijit Majumdar and Prof BS Butola of the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering. The IIT-D team successfully converted waste denim into yarn with minimal damage to fibre properties by optimising process conditions.

The recycled yarn obtained is then blended into knitted fabric using seamless whole-garment technology, producing garments containing 25 per cent to 75 per cent recycled yarn.

The research team found that up to 50 per cent recycled yarn content could be used in knitted clothing without affecting the quality of the fabric.

“To reduce the roughness of recycled yarns, a softening treatment is applied, ensuring the final product feels just like one made from virgin materials,” said Prof Majumdar.

The Professor further added that while the study focused on denim waste, the method could be extended to other types of textile waste.

The research, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, included a life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify environmental benefits in the Indian context.

PhD scholar Satya Karmakar collected energy and material data from the Panipat textile recycling cluster.

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Reducing environmental damage

As reported by The Tribune, the LCA showed that recycling could mitigate 30-40 per cent of environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, acid rain and fossil fuel depletion. For ozone layer depletion, the reduction is as high as 60 per cent.

Using recycled fibres reduces the demand for virgin cotton.

Cotton cultivation accounts for 24 per cent of global warming among all production stages because of high usage of water, pesticides and fertilisers.

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