April 03, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

DHAKA, April 2: Bangladesh has begun producing environmentally friendly yarn from cotton waste to save foreign currency on imports, a local company said on Wednesday.

“We have set up the factory to produce cotton yarn by using waste from readymade garment products to export to foreign markets,” said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, managing director of Evitex Polycot Limited (EPL).

EPL is 49 per cent stake owned by Swiss firm Texta A B. Its plant, 60km north of Dhaka, will produce up to 5,000 metric tons of yarn a year, he told Reuters.

Mr Parvez, also president of the Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters association, said reclaiming cotton in this way could eventually meet nearly 25 per cent of the country’s cotton demand.—Reuters