Bangladesh has begun producing environmentally friendly yarn from cotton waste to save foreign currency on imports, a local company said on Wednesday. "We have set up the factory to produce cotton yarn by using waste from ready-made garment products to export to foreign markets," said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, managing director of Evitex Polycot Limited (EPL). EPL is 49 percent stake owned by Swiss firm Texta A B. Its plant, 60 km (38 miles) north of Dhaka city, will produce up to 5,000 tonnes of yarn a year, he told Reuters.

Polyester is a magical material. It is found in just about everything, from clothes to artificial blood vessels.

Bob Crebas still introduces himself as "an old hippy.' But these days it is not recycled washing machines and bric-a-brac that the Dutchman trades in. He has swapped all this for fashion collections made from stinging nettles, designed and produced by his fast-growing business Brennels.nl. Four years ago, Crebas and his business partner were selling second-hand wares through a trading website called Marktplaats.nl when they were approached by eBay, the hugely successful auction website, and made the kind of offer you can't refuse. The American firm bought out Marktplaats.nl for

The economy of Madhya Pradesh is largely natural resource driven, leveraging the state's advantage in agriculture and mineral resources. The key industries and sectors where Madhya Pradesh has competitive strength include cement, textiles, mining and food-processing. To give a fillip to industrial development in the State, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to establish a SEZ in the industrially backward Hargarh village of Sihora tehsil, Jabalpur district, in Mahakaushal region of the State. The work on setting up the SEZ is on in full swing and the blueprint for it is ready. The SEZ will be formally inaugurated during the Investors' Meet to be held in Jabalpur. The Industries Department has proposed to build the SEZ on 623 acres of land in Hargarh. While 250 acres of the land is being dedicated to an SEZ on mineral and mineral-based products, a similar area of land has been earmarked for a SEZ dedicated to agro and food products. The rest of the land will be developed as an industrial area. The proposal for the mineral-based SEZ has already been sent to the Central government while the proposal for agro and food products SEZ is being prepared by the Industries Department. The mineral-based SEZ will have a budget of Rs 158.10 crore and will take three years to develop. The units that are likely to be a part of mineral-based SEZ are iron ore units, granite, marble processing units and fire clay units. A lot of work is being done in these fields in the Mahakaushal region. The preparations for the inauguration are in full swing. The empty fields of Hargarh are being cleaned up and the Pan Umaraiya road and a link road to the inauguration spot is being built rapidly. Work is also in progress on the National Highway between Sihora and Jabalpur. The inauguration will be done on February 15 with Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan taking part in the Bhoomi pujan ceremony. In fact, SEZ is one of the main focus areas of the two-day Investors' Meet in Jabalpur. The SEZ is likely to have a lot of positive spin-offs for the region. With the establishment of the SEZ, export companies will set up offices and complexes in Jabalpur creating opportunities for employment. Also, the air traffic to Jabalpur will get a fillip and, in turn, taxi and hotel services will gain from increased human traffic. The ancillary units and factories in Jabalpur and Katni regions will also gain from the SEZ, besides improvement in the industrial environment in Sihora region. Another major gain will be in terms of employment generation. Nearly 8,300 people will get employment in mineral-based SEZ. The SEZ will thus be a boon for skilled manpower in Jabalpur and for unskilled labour of Sihora and Hargarh, there will be work available. The state goernment has already developed a greenfield SEZ at Indore and its experience in that venture is certain to stand it in good stead in Jabalpur.

Bangalore: G.S. Nadiger, Director (Laboratories), Textiles Committee, in the Union Textile Ministry on Thursday said that a large number of textile industries and units, particularly those in the processing sector across the country, have failed to meet many environmental laws and regulations. He was speaking at a two-day national seminar on international quality standards in textile and apparel industries and their implementation, organised by the Institution of Engineers (India), Shahi Group, Lakvinsar Projects and Infrastructure. The Principal Secretary (Commerce and Industry) Aravind S. Risbud inaugurated the seminar and released the souvenir. Dr. Nadiger said that despite stringent environmental laws and regulations, the compliance level by the textile industry has not been very satisfactory. The highly decentralised nature of Indian textile industry further complicated the enforcement of the legislation. Fragmented nature For example, he said the fragmented and small-scale nature of the industry could not support an individual effluent treatment plant (ETP) in every company. The solution to this was to have common ETPs for a cluster of industries, which would share the cost. Barring a few textile clusters, the concept of common ETP was yet to become popular in India. He said that the State Governments and the local authorities need to facilitate the eco-compliance by the textile companies by providing water, land for ETPs and dumping the sludge. The small-scale manufacturers of dyes and chemicals and processors should be sensitised and trained to comply with the laws, he added. The expert said that the Department of Forests and Environment should plug the loopholes in terms of enforcement of the laws and regulations. He said that the Union Government has prohibited the use of 112 azo-based commercial dyes releasing 22 harmful amines which should be implemented by the industry. B.L. Girija Shankar, Chairman of Lakvnisar Projects and Infrastructure said that the work on an eco-friendly textile park on a 50-acre plot at Chickkaballapur has begun. He said that the aim of the park was to use organic dyes in the manufacture of textiles to save the consumers. Former President of the Institute of Engineers B.N. Tyagaraja welcomed the gathering. S.M. Chatterjee, Chairman, Textile Engineering Division Board of the institute presided. B. Basavaraj, former Director, Department of Technical Education, D.V. Muniswamy, former Principal, S.K.S. Technological Institute, T.N. Sonwalkar, former Director of Central Silk Technological Research Institute and R.Venkatesh Babu, Chairman of Shahi Groups were felicitated.