Grasim goes eco-friendly on fabrics; to invest $200 m.

The Aditya Birla Group is investing $200 million for sustainable production of viscose fibre in all its seven plants. The investments, which commenced last year, would be spread over the next four years, a top official said.

To take the eco-friendly fibre story ahead, the group has launched Livaeco, which is a variant of the existing fabric brand Liva.

Dilip Gaur, Managing Director of Grasim, told BusinessLine that the investments have begun and are being made in the four domestic and three overseas plants of the group companies.

Gaur said the whole process of sustainability starts from the basic ingredient of wood pulp, which is the main ingredient required for making fibre. Therefore, the units have commenced procuring pulp only from forests that are certified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which has stringent rules.

In the fibres, chemical tracers have also been added, which can trace back the fibres to the very forests from which it originated.

He said that the production process of viscose fibre is being tuned keeping in the mind the water stress in the country.

Therefore, today the group’s viscose fibre production consumes least amount of water based on a global standard. A Livaeco garment production consumes 900 litres less water than any other garment.

Gaur pointed out that out of the three major fibres used for clothing, polyester takes 300 years to degrade in the environment, while cotton can be broken down in 14-16 weeks but viscose fibre takes just six weeks.

HBL