A 150-acre facility at Chitambalam, about an hour’s drive from Coimbatore, has over 10,000 trees, 1,000 birding nests, solar energy panels, bio gasifiers, and plastic-free zones. Tiruppur-based Sulochana Cotton Spinning Mills buys 4,000 tonnes of used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles a month and converts them into polyester fibre, yarn, cloth, and garments on this campus.
Even as global apparel brands commit to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets, textile factories, such as Sulochana, in Tamil Nadu, a textile powerhouse, are showing the way in sustainable and circular fashion. The company, which won the State government’s Green Champion Award for 2021, ventured into PET bottle recycling in 2010 and currently buys used PET bottles from waste aggregators in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and parts of Karnataka.
The bottles land at its gates at Chitambalam in three colours – white, green, and brown. The labels on the bottles are removed and sent to cement factories to be used as fuel. The plastic caps and rings are converted into pellets that go into the making of planters, car bumpers, etc. The bottles are washed multiple times and broken into flakes. Colour master batches are added to the flakes to make coloured polyester fibre or yarn. “We do not use water, salt, or chemicals to dye the fibre. The (PET) recycled fibre saves on both cost and time,” says the company’s CEO, G.D. Gopalakrishnan. The recycled fibre waste also has its applications in the manufacture of conveyor belts, automobile mats, etc.
A scuba diving jacket made by Sulochana has 96% recycled polyester filament, avoids 47 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, saves 46 litres of water, and has 40 g of diverted waste. Similarly, yoga wear made by the company has 96% recycled polyester filament, avoids 32 kg of CO2 emission, saves 31 litres of water, and has 27 g of diverted waste.
Approximately 20 to 40 one-litre bottles are recycled to make one garment, says Mr. Gopalakrishnan. “We strive to be a 100% carbon neutral company by 2027. We have achieved 94% as of now,” Managing Director S. Krishna Kumar adds.
Apart from PET bottles, Sulochana has tied up with a few brands to source cotton garment cut wastes and recycles the fabric at another facility near the Chitambalam one. These are blended with recycled polyester fibre and knitted into clothes. “We are giving new lease on life to textile waste which will otherwise go into landfills,” says Ramakrishnan Sabhari Girish, head of Sustainability at Sulochana.
The company says it has also aligned with nine of the 17 sustainable development goals. As brands and countries set ESG goals, the investments in environment, sustainability, and circular fashion gives the company a competitive edge in the international market, he says.
