Spinners in Bangladesh are facing a shortage of waste cotton and textile scraps since a major portion of them is shipped abroad amid higher demand for recycled yarns and fabrics worldwide.

Bangladeshsees a huge volume of cotton textile scraps, but these wastes are usually dumped into a landfill, burned, exported, or recycled into low-quality fabrics.This means the country misses the opportunity to produce recycled yarn from the bi-products with a view to manufacturing the apparel products whose demand is rocketing globally.

Higher cotton farming is hampering the environment whereas the manufacturing of apparel involves more groundwater, especially during washing and dyeing.So many clothing retailers and brands prefer the reuse and recycling of garments to avoid environmental damage. But some traders in Bangladesh feel encouraged to export waste cotton and fabrics than sell them in the local market because of the price factor.

In some cases, imported recycled yarns are made from the wastes and scrap fabrics exported from Bangladesh. In 2019, Bangladesh produced approximately 5,77,000 tons of waste just from the readymade garments and fabric mills of which almost half was 100 per cent pure cotton waste.On the other hand, Bangladesh heavily relies on the import of textile fiber.