Novel Treatment of Selected Post Industrial Textile Waste into a Sustainable Product for Agriculture

Abstract

A statistical survey reports the fact that the total amount of willow dust generated, is about 80, 000 –
85, 000 tons per annum. [1] This willow waste is too short a fiber to be used for any textile application and
is just disposed off as landfills. A better alternative for this waste was designed and thus the research aims
in biomanaging this cotton textile waste by using three tier system of enzyme-earthworm-microbe
interaction. Pretreatment and enzymatic treatment of the cotton textile waste enhanced good growth of
earthworms with an additional benefit of reducing the toxicity of the wastes. The resultant vermicompost
was a very good substitute for chemical fertilizer with a good source of carbon and appreciable amount of
NPK. On addition of cellulose degraders, nitrogen fixers and phosphate stabilizers the compost can be
converted into rich source of biofertiliser also. The efficacy of the prepared compost was analyzed using a
pot culture study and the results were compared with control pot.