When compared to the per capita textile waste in other countries, the waste generated by the Indian population is significantly low (0.79kg per capita). There are various factors which lead to low textile waste such as the traditional practices of reuse, the design of clothing, lower disposable income and so on. However, the largest eliminators of the textile waste are principles of reuse engrained in the traditional Indian practices and lifestyle like the reuse of the garment by multiple members of the family enabled by (usually a) patrilinear cohabitation known as the Joint family system; and the basic tenets of circularity imbibed in the practice of wearing rectangular pieces of unstitched fabrics like sarees, lungis, veshtis. In this paper we will do a detailed study of how these two traditions encourage a circular economy for textiles.

Biography:  Anupriya Aggarwal is doing her PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. She is the Senior Project Manager of Team Zero Waste at IIT Bombay, which is a student-led organization comprising of students and faculty members from various disciplines. This goal of this team to reduce the landfill waste from the 550-acre campus to zero, hence making it more environmentally sustainable. She writes on various topics related to sustainability, climate change and minimalism particularly in the context of developing countries like India at oneplanet.co.in. Through oneplanet.co.in she hopes to encourage people in the developing countries to adopt a sustainable lifestyle through individual and community driven action-orientedapproach