EUR 180,000 required for equipment - Women's Center Uzice seeks investors in innovative manufacture of recycled textile fibers

The web portal eKapija has launched a Call for Nominations for the Best Investment in 2015 - Aurea 2016. And while we are waiting to see who the new winners will be, we`ve paid a visit to companies that were shortlisted for awards last year to see how far they`ve come in their business development.

For its Sustainable Solutions Through Waste Textile Recycling project, the Women`s Center Uzice won the 2015 Aurea Special Award for Social Utility last year.

This women`s association launched an innovation model of taking care of textile waste which comprises process from primary selection, recycling to placement of new products made of recycled waste at the market. It is based on the idea of using the potential of waste textile recycling and ensuring its economic valorization since waste textile is not used as raw material in recycling although it accounts for 4-6% of overall utility waste.

The project objective is to set up a recycling center for textile which will function as a social company giving priority in employment to women who otherwise find it difficult to find a job.

The Sustainable Solutions Through Waste Textile Recycling project was created in 2010 with the aim of building sustainable economic models of employment of women from vulnerable groups and as a result of the local community`s problems with the establishment of primary waste selection system and disposal of one category of waste. People did not know what with the textile they`re not using any more, while, on the other hand, the regional landfill in the city had a problem with waste collection and recycling method.

The private company MPP Jedinstvo from Sevojno allocated 100 square meter of space within the former textile plant Cveta Dabic to the Women`s Center Uzice, which this association used to establish a service for collecting and donating textile that is still in use.

- We are actively working to attract investments in the production of recycled textile fibers. At the sixth conference of CSR Forum on Socially Reponsible Operations, held on 9 December 2015 in Belgrade, one of our guests was Michael Davenport, the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia - Marina Tucovic, the manager of textile recycling program at Women`s Center Uzice, says in a talk with eKapija.

Under this project, Women`s Center Uzice has so far established infrastructure and technical preconditions for primary selection and donation of textile (first phase) as well as for the manufacture of textile haberdashery from recycled textile (second phase).

(at last year`s Aurea awards ceremony)

According to Marina Tucovic, Women`s Center Uzice applied for the Aurea award last year in the hope of increasing the visibility and making it easier to find investors who would finance the third phase of the project - completion of the concept and creation of conditions for the production of recycled textile fiber from utility waste for the nonwovens industry.

- This fiber has applications in the construction, footwear, automotive and furniture industries and is not produced in Serbia, while imported fibers originate from the industry and stem from post-industrial waste - eKapija`s interlocutor explains.

In order to launch the third phase of project, Women`s Center Uzice is to finish infrastructure equipping and space adaptation and to purchase additional containers, vehicles and technology line for recycling comprised of three machines.

- MPP Jedinstvo will allocate additional 500 square meters of space to the association to start this production, and the Women`s Center Uzice is now looking for prospective investors to provide about EUR 180,000 for the procurement of necessary equipment - says Marina Tucovic.

Manufacture of textile haberdashery from recycled textile will make it possible to hire more women from vulnerable groups, while the production of recycled textile fiber allow for the employment of additional 22 workers.

M. A.