Report flags air and water pollution by Panipat textile recycling industry

The largest textile recycling cluster globally, Panipat contributes exports of around ₹30,000 crore and provides employment to more than 4 lakh people, nearly a third of whom are women. However, the lack of a cluster-wide waste management protocol and the absence of tracking mechanisms has lead to informal burning and open disposal of the waste generated by the industry causing air and water pollution, said a report by the Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC), released in New Delhi on Thursday.

The report “Panipat Textile Recycling – Sustainability Readiness Report” has identified a wide range of solid, liquid, and semi-solid wastes generated by the recycling and processing activities in Panipat across different stages of production including fibre residues, dye sludge, boiler ash, packaging plastics, and contaminated non-recyclables – each posing distinct environmental management challenges.