What We Do
At Enviu, we work to create a circular B2B textile service model, starting with the hotel industry. Through this pilot, we focus on the following:
- Waste picker families attain enhanced economic stability and reduced financial vulnerability.
- Enable waste pickers, particularly women and youth, to sustainably shift to alternative professions with upward mobility prospects if they so desire.
- Diverting X kgs of textile waste from landfills, bringing it back into the loop.
Activities and Impact
The disposal of used hotel linens and institutional waste has been a big problem, adding to the growing issue of textile waste. Through this pilot, we aim to introduce a rental model to manage the linens in the hospitality industry by introducing more sustainable practices and collecting end-of-life linen from partnering hotels to divert it from ending up in landfills.
Our Linen Pilot started with 1.825 tonnes of linen waste collected from Hilton EGL. As the project expanded, we welcomed three more hotels into the initiative, effectively diverting their end-of-life linens from the waste stream. We collaborated with waste pickers and sorters from Hasiru Dala, contributing to the gathering and sorting of discarded linens.
Hotel IBIS Chennai City Centre became our first official partner in responsible linen management, followed by Holiday Inn Express in Bengaluru. In the initial phase, we managed linens for 155 rooms, emphasising teamwork for sustainability and extending the lifespan of linens.
Our operations in Chennai were led by our dedicated female sorters from the Chennai sorting centre. The result?
We successfully diverted 5000kgs of institutional waste from landfills.
Partnership and collaboration are vital, and we showcased our efforts at various events. The pilot received praise as we endorsed the concept at the Professional Housekeepers Association (PHA). We had the honour of speaking at the SAP summit and presenting our work to the Ikea board and Ikea Ambassadors Hub.
