The Story Of India's Recyclers of Used Clothes

People of my generation would recall people usually a couple  balancing a basket of utensils on their head and a bundle of old clothes on their shoulders.

Asking for old clothes for their stainless steel, and aluminium utensils in our cities and localities, spreading their merchandise at our doorsteps.

Our grandparents Or parents, would bargain and negotiate about the types and numbers of cooking vessels, that would bartered in exchange for old used clothes.

These people were nomadic, and belonged to communities’s whose main livelihood was through collecting and selling of old clothes.

They would roamed from houses to houses asking for old clothes in exchange for stainless steel or aluminium utensils. 

The collected old clothes that would be then sorted, washed and stitched, to be sold in the markets,that were scattered across the country known as Chindi Bazaars.

The processed clothes would be sold to the middlemen of traders, construction workers, slum dwellers, and the sarees, trousers, shirts etc would be sold between ₹5 to ₹50 per piece. 

The clothes that are too damaged to be sold as second-hand garments would be sent to the rug makers on the basis of weight.

However, with the changing times, these people seem to be disappearing into the shadows of the modern urban lifestyle. 

The 21th century consumer does not have time to bargain for his or her clothes for utensils. With the double-income couples, and the lack of anyone at homes in the afternoons to entertain these recyclers. 

The low-quality fast fashion clothes also didn't last as much that they could be sold in the second-hand markets.

The flourishing second-hand markets often find their merchandise from illegally imported clothes.

In 2008, the Indian government had put a ban on the import of second-hand clothes to protect domestic textiles manufacturers. 

The import of only mutilated garments was partially allowed for the raw material for the home furnishing industry for making blankets, rugs and pillow stuffing.

According to Textiles Manufacturers Association of India, approximately ₹ 550 crore of textile goods illegally enter India through our ports and airports every year.

Despite ensuring that the country’s discarded clothes do not reach the landfill, there traditionally recyclers people were not recognised by the modern textile recyclers.

The demonetisation of 2016 also served as the final blow to these recyclers when the cash-based model started to fail.

The question is whether this people still has something unique to contribute to modern India or is it high time that they get assimilated with the rest of the society; whether the government should try to preserve their identity by providing them with a livelihood that is in line with their heritage or an alternate form of livelihood should be identified for them.

"We live in a disposable society. It's easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name - I call it recycling."

Devanga's Vidhana
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