ReFiber releases Mumbai Textile Circular Economy Demonstration Project white paper at Bharat Tex 2026
25 July 2026: ReFiber, powered by OterRi, released its white paper, Mumbai Textile Circular Economy Demonstration Project, at Bharat Tex 2026. The paper was presented at the Eco Stitch Sustainability and Circularity Hub, an initiative of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) and the Global Alliance for Textile Sustainability Council (GATS).
India is one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of textiles, but post-consumer textile waste remains largely uncollected and difficult to trace. The paper documents a city-level model for collecting, tracking and recovering household textiles.
Launched on World Environment Day 2026 at World Trade Center Mumbai, the project was delivered by OterRi with Tisser, CMAI, UNIDO, World Trade Center Mumbai and Lions International. It brought together citizen participation, doorstep collection, digital traceability, women-led upcycling and responsible recycling in one working model.
On World Environment Day 2026, the Mumbai demonstration collected 2.7 tonnes of post-consumer textiles. It generated 275 collection orders from 257 citizens through 15 laundry partners operating across 28 branches. The pilot showed that existing city service networks can support first-mile textile collection without a separate logistics network.
The paper names six gaps holding back textile circularity in India: lack of source segregation, no citizen incentives, no material traceability, no organised collection infrastructure, weak links with recyclers and upcyclers, and no consistent way to measure impact.
“India’s textile heritage is woven into our culture, economy and identity. At ReFiber, we want to turn post-consumer textile waste into a resource through a traceable collection and recovery system. The Navi Mumbai pilot showed what can happen when technology, citizens and local partners work together. It gives Maharashtra a practical model to build on,” said Shrikant Bhangdiya, Chairman, ReFiber Initiative.
“The Mumbai Textile Circular Economy Demonstration Project gives us a working model for textile circularity: citizens participate, material is collected through existing networks, and each stage can be tracked. The next job is to take it from Navi Mumbai to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Maharashtra and over time, other parts of India,” said Manoj Wanvari, COO, OterRi and ReFiber.
At Bharat Tex 2026, ReFiber presented the paper to senior policymakers, government representatives, industry leaders and international organisations. The paper was shared with Smt. Neelam Shami Rao, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles; Ms. Vrunda Manohar Desai, Textile Commissioner; Shri Kartikay Dhanda, Secretary, Textiles Committee; Ms. Radhika Batra, Chief of Staff, United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNRCO), India; Dr. Cristiano Pasini, Director and UNIDO Representative for India and South Asia; Dr. Pankaj Kumar, National Project Coordinator, UNIDO; CMAI leaders Santosh Katariya, President; Naveen Sainani, Chairperson, CMAI Eco Stitch Sustainability Cell; Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor; and Parvinder Kadyan, Founder Director, GATS. Representatives from the Governments of Nagaland and Karnataka were also present.
ReFiber plans to build on the Mumbai demonstration in phases, starting with Navi Mumbai, then the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Maharashtra, before moving to other parts of India. The model combines digital traceability, organised collection and partner networks to move textiles from households into reuse, upcycling or recycling.
About ReFiber
ReFiber, powered by OterRi, helps collect, track and recover post-consumer textile waste. It brings together citizen engagement, doorstep collection through OterRi’s laundry and delivery network, source segregation, material traceability and impact reporting. Through work with Tisser, CMAI, UNIDO and World Trade Center Mumbai, ReFiber aims to build Digital Public Infrastructure for textile circularity, starting with a city demonstration and moving towards state and national coverage.
About OterRi
OterRi is a doorstep laundry-service aggregator and micro-logistics network that supports ReFiber’s collection work. Its laundry partners and delivery personnel provide a first-mile channel for recovering textiles from households and getting clean, source-segregated material to reuse, upcycling and recycling partners.
