"The air inside Panipat's recycling factories is heavy with lint that glints in the light before settling over every surface like a film of dirty snow. At her work station, 27-year-old Neerma Devi cuts through collars and seams, tugging sleeves apart and feeding scraps of used clothes into a roaring machine. Each cut unleashes another cloud of lint into the room. Her dupatta is wound tightly across her face to stop her breathing in the fibres, but she says it does little."
"Nearly six years ago, Devi left Hardoi, a town 300 miles away, and came to Panipat with her husband, lured by the promise of steady mill work. Today, she works six days a week, often with her young sons by her side due to the lack of on-site childcare facilities. But the clothes she recycles each day are making her sick."
Panipat recycles around one million tonnes of textile waste annually through roughly 20,000 industrial units employing at least 300,000 workers, converting discarded clothing into yarn and home textiles. Workers manually sort, cut and feed used garments into shredders and looms inside poorly ventilated, lint-filled workshops. Prolonged exposure to lint causes persistent coughing, tight chests, skin itching and recurring respiratory problems that require repeated medication. Many workers are migrants who endure long hours, low pay and limited childcare, making it economically impossible for them to leave hazardous factory work despite health consequences.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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