The Indian Textile Recycling Initiative
Turning one person’s waste into another person’s resource, the GOONJ project is setting a sustainable mindset in the heart of the Indian capital New Delhi.
Taking the idea of recycling would be waste to a whole new level, the project has become well established as a distribution network able to reach even the poorest areas of India.
Founded in 1998 by Ashoka Fellow Anshu Gupta, the GOONJ project collects unused clothing from all over India to then recycle the materials to provide clothes, sanitary and many other basic amenities to people living in poorer communities across the country.
The 300 volunteers and mass participation of housewives, professionals, schools, colleges, corporates, exporters, hotels and hospitals behind the recycling and distribution center help to send out over 40,000 pounds of recycled waste materials every smonth.
A vast network of more than 100 grassroots agencies is also helping GOONJ reach parts of 20 states of India.
GOONJ has also won the prestigious Development Market place award from the World Bank on making a sanitary napkin out of waste cloth.
