New Delhi, May 10 (KNN) The New Delhi based think tank Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) has suggested the government a slew of policy interventions to enable circular economy in the textile and apparel industry.

In a circular economy material is reduced, reused, recycled and repurposed, and Indian suppliers and manufacturers stand to proactively adopt good practices and innovate through circular business models and practices to be part of the transformation that is happening globally.

The report titled as ‘Circular Textile and Apparel in India: Policy Intervention Priorities and Ideas’ highlights key aspects of circular economy and explain how policy interventions can support them.

Policy interventions in areas of design, material, chemicals, energy, water, waste etc have been suggested in the report based on secondary research and extensive stakeholder consultations across various value chain actors especially.

For design, it has proposed the Ministry of Textile to issue advisory on textile production parameters and processes and publish guidelines to indicate the acceptable percentage of waste at each stage of production, along with water, energy and chemical consumption.

The research has identified a need for stable policy on energy efficient machinery and use of cleaner energy and suggested to provide incentives on renewable energy over conventional energy.

It has labelled Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of MSME as policy actors to promote clean energy among MSMEs focussing on in-situ technical/technological innovations.

The body has called for better incentives for manufacturers and designers to work with proven alternate sustainable materials and incentivize the use of alternative materials through tax schemes at all segments of textile value chain.

It has also recommended clear ban on landfilling of textile wastes and proposed regulation of Policy and Act on textile and apparel wastes.  (KNN Bureau)