Business Trip to India
India
2022.11.14-19
I left Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on November 14. After a nine hour flight, I landed in New Delhi and soon checked into my hotel by 8:00 pm. At 3:00 am the next morning, I checked out and caught a 5:30 am flight to Rajkot. The purpose of my trip to India was to visit an organic farm and a Vardhman textile recycling plant.
1. Organic Farm
The city of Rajkot in the state of Gujarat is about two hours southwest by plane from New Delhi.
First of all, about an hour south of the airport, is a cotton market in Gondar. So what did they say about this year’s cotton crop in India?
They said that even when the harvest was delayed due to heavy rains, there was an abundance of beautiful cotton.
I next visited two ginning plants about a 90 min. drive southwest from there: First, a ginning plant in Shankar and then an organic ginning plant in Manavadar.
I then went to an organic farm in Sardargadh. Here, they use they use earthworms to decompose organic matter to create a compost called Vermicompost. This is then spread throughout the fields as an organic fertilizer and soil conditioner.
Jivamrut is often called a panacea. It is made to provide a suitable environment for microorganisms that help provide plants with essential nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for plant growth. It promotes microbial activity in the soil.
There are also various ways to grow cotton without the use of inorganic pesticides. Neem leaves, cow urine, etc. can be used to make organic pesticides to fight insects. However, the use of these means comparatively more time is needed to raise cotton crops.
２. Recycling Plants
Another reason for this trip was to visit the Vardhman Recycling Plant in Baddi.
This plant is located about an hour north of Chandigarh Airport, which in turn is one hour north of New Delhi by plane.
I've been in contact with Vardhman about recycling for several years. They made an offer to me about five years ago, before COVID, but I wasn’t at that stage of development then. At that time, they managed to get a yarn made from 20% recycled blend.
This the first time I’ve visited this plant in three years, and this trip confirms the high level of Vardhman’s recycling capabilities as well as the need for recycling in the world (H&M, Zara, etc.). The speed in which this level of recycling was developed and implemented only confirms this need.
Here, in this recycling system they collect 100% cotton items such as cutting and thread waste. First of all, this is a plant that will focus on producing 100% cotton products.
In the future, we will create a system to produce colored fabrics, dyed fabrics, products, threads, etc.
Even more amazing is its solar power system.
This system was intended to only power the air-jet spinning machine (BD) factory.
Now, the company has plans to install this type of system in all factories.
I have also seen many recycling factories but so far, Vardhman’s is the most advanced.
Italy, Spain, and many other countries are making progress in this field, but I feel that Japan’s development in recycling is lagging.
Of course, when thinking about trends, I can understand the fascination with beautiful things, but I think it would be good if we pursue consumer involvement and encourage thinking about environmental issues, our current status, and future initiatives.
I also feel that in the future, we have to plan on creating and using more fabrics made from recycled materials.
It is necessary to take positive action to create proper inter-company initiatives rather just state Sustainable Development Goals.