Making Textiles from Banana Trees | Recycling for a Difference
Banana trees that have so far been cut, have had their stems thrown away as rubbish.
But in Badin district, a local landlord has changed their future and that of the local laborers.
He has installed a small industrial unit that now processes the banana stem for fiber.
The landlord picked up the idea from Punjab, where a similar factor was using bananas imported from Sindh in order to make products.
The fiber extracted from the banana stem is sent to textile and paper factories in Karachi and Punjab. Cloth, tissue papers, baby diapers and women’s sanitary pads are made from this banana fiber.
Producing fiber from banana stems was first tested in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Sindh province is the largest banana producing province in Pakistan, contributing 80% of its production. And 35,000 tons of bananas are wasted every year, either burned or thrown away. Throwing them in the garbage or burning it also has a negative impact on the environment.
Stakeholders in the textile industry and growers hope that extracting fiber from banana waste can become an alternative to cotton.