State-level second prize for Navi Mumbai’s Threads of Change textile recycling facility project

Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's (NMMC) initiative, ‘Threads of Change', received the ‘State Level Second' award in the ‘Best Idea/Initiative' category in the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Administrative Dynamics (Progress) Campaign and Competition'. The Textile Recycling Facility (TRF) project, which is the one and only such facility in the country, presented by Deputy Commissioner of the Garden Department Smita Kale, received the honour. The eco-friendly project reduced waste by giving a new form to textile waste and gave a new dimension to cleanliness, and it was noted with appreciation at all levels.The TRF centre is run by NMMC through the Textile Committee of the Ministry of Textiles, Central Govt, at CBD Belapur Sector 1, in collaboration with non-governmental organisations. Under the initiative, special clothing collection boxes are placed in more than 100 societies to collect clothing waste for recycling, including used clothes in good condition that are discarded. A logbook is kept to record the collected clothes, and the boxes are tagged according to the society, NMMC officials said.A tipper vehicle is made available to collect the clothes and bring them to the TRF centre. At the centre, the clothes brought from the vehicle are classified according to grade. Different types of clothes, such as cotton, polyester and silk, are also classified through a box scanner, after which the clothes are processed according to quality. Since August 2025, 41,500 kg of post-consumer textile waste was brought to the centre, and more than 400 products were made by reprocessing it.A total of 75 workshops were conducted to create awareness, and more than 11,500 families are connected to the initiative. More than 300 women have been provided skill development training in the production of various textile goods and materials at the TRF centre, and more than 150 women were provided employment worth Rs 9,000 to Rs 15,000 per month.A standard operating procedure was prepared so that others could implement a similar project, and the project achieved the objectives of ‘Swachh Bharat Mission' and ‘Sustainable Development'. The post-consumer textile waste volume was large everywhere and continued to increase due to changing fashion trends. The project, implemented jointly by the Central Govt's Textile Committee and NMMC, was described as the first municipal-level project in the country to implement all three policy objectives of urban solid waste management, promotion of circular economy and women empowerment.Prime Minister Narendra Modi also appreciated the project, NMMC Commissioner Kailas Shinde said. The Maharashtra Govt awarded the state-level second prize to the TRF facility centre as a pilot concept and experiment, noting the innovation of the environmentally friendly ‘Threads of Change' project, which gave a new dimension to women empowerment, in the Rajiv Gandhi Administrative Acceleration (PRAGATI) Competition.