SHARJAH // Fashions change with the seasons, as people’s wardrobes are regularly cleared of old clothes and restocked with new ones.
But now it is possible to give those old garments a new lease of life after they have fallen out of favour in the style stakes.
Within Sharjah Airport International Free Zone, the company with the largest loading-bay area is a clothes dealer and recycler, Hands Industries.
The 70-metre-long facility, where large lorries come and go all day long, is a testament to the fact that unwanted clothing does have uses, benefiting people in need or those in less affluent countries, providing job opportunities and, importantly, reducing landfill waste.
“Something of no value for you is of much value for the rest of the world,” said Nawaz Khan, sales manager of the company, who estimates that every day about 50 tonnes of unwanted clothes, shoes and toys are collected in the UAE.
The trend, he said, had picked up in the past two years with authorities allowing clothes collection boxes to be set up in communities. Mr Khan estimates that there are about 7,000 of these throughout the country.
According to company director, Mohamed Suleman, whose father started the business two decades ago in the UK, the collection points are set up on behalf of different charities, who own the deposited clothes. Items that are not deemed useful are sold on to companies such as Hands Industries.
“The collection is done in the name of the charity and then we buy it from the charity,” said Mr Suleman, adding that old clothes were usually bought for about Dh5 per kilogram.
The plant’s 20,000-square-metre sorting facility handles 100 tonnes of garments a day, out of which five to six tonnes are from the UAE, mostly from charities in Dubai and Sharjah. The rest arrives from Britain, Europe, the US and Australia.
Once the clothes reach the sorting facility, workers at several conveyor belts separate them into their different types – shirts, trousers, ladies’ and men’s items, children’s clothes. Altogether more than 150 grades are picked out, Mr Khan said.
The clothes are then baled and sold on to wholesalers, who transport them to Africa and Asia.
Udochukwu Ogbonnaya, from Nigeria, has been in the wholesale business since 1993. He imports up to five containers a month for shops in his home country, as well as Togo, Benin and Ghana. He was in Sharjah to oversee a shipment of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, as well as lightweight household items.
Clothes that are not wearable, as well as heavy woollen items that are not in demand in Africa and Asia, are cut into pieces and used for cleaning cloths. This takes place in an adjacent area in the free zone where workers manually segregate the fabric into 13 grades, such as white cotton, T-shirts, towels, jeans and others.
The clothes are first checked with magnets to ensure there are no metal objects attached. If these are found, they are cut out and sold separately to recyclers in India. The remaining fabric is cut manually.
“It has been used in industry, hospitals, the aviation industry, oil industry, even a lot of big malls use it for outside cleaning,” Mr Khan said.
On average, the company sells 200 tonnes of recycled clothes a month to companies in this country. Another 50 tonnes is sold around the region, while a further 250 tonnes a month is exported to Australia, the UK and Japan.
“You are throwing out your old clothes, you have no use for them, but look at the process after that,” Mr Khan said. “It goes to the charity, they make use of it, it goes to the freight companies, customs and then it comes to us.
“There is a life after that and so many people depend on this used clothing.”
vtodorova@thenational.ae
Four%20scenarios%20for%20Ukraine%20war
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2a)
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Jawan
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Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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BAD%20BOYS%3A%20RIDE%20OR%20DIE
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
The%20Beekeeper
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDavid%20Ayer%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJason%20Statham%2C%20Josh%20Hutcherson%2C%20Emmy%20Raver-Lampman%2C%20Minnie%20Driver%2C%20Jeremy%20Irons%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Company%20Profile
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