Bheri’s Bishnumaya Koirala, who is in her mid 50s, was surprised to hear from her neighour about a textile recycling factory for the first time. She planned to visit the rumoured factory thinking that it was a just a hoax told by her neighbour but she was proven wrong. On Saturday, she discovered the Surya Factory, a factory geared towards recycling old clothes and textile materials into new pillows, blankets, mattresses and more, the first of its kind in the district.

She was amazed at the discovery and the very next day, she went to the factory with over 10kg of old and unwanted clothes. The factory sprung into action immediately, recycling her unwanted clothes into two new mattresses. The process of recycling cost her only Rs1,370 for two new mattresses while buying a new mattress would have cost her Rs2,500.

“I brought all these unwanted clothes and they were fully used,” said Koirala, “I don’t have to burn or throw away these clothes anymore.”

Surya Factory, which is located in Kodar of Bhojpur Municipality, was established a month ago by an industrialist based in Pokhara who leased land for the factory from Jhadap Bahadur Khatri. The factory has since provided beneficial services to the likes of Koirala by recycling old textile into new useful items.

“The general habit of generating waste and littering has stopped due to recycling,” said Bimala Tamang of Kodari, “Simultaneously, it has provided an economic boost to many people.” The factory charges customers for each kilogram of textile they want to recycle.

The factory also provides employment to Nuwakot’s 56-year old Singhabahadur Tamang and his family. Tamang operates the factory with his wife, son and daughter. The four of them recycle unwanted clothes to produce around 6 to 12 new textile products such as mattresses, pillows and more every day.

“First, you need to shred the clothes to small pieces, and then you have to burn and discolour them,” said Tamang, “Although the task is difficult, I feel good helping people recycle.”

In the first two weeks, the factory saw no one come in with old, unwanted clothes. Now the factory is buzzing with customers coming in to recycle their old clothes, according to Tamang.

Even with the positive atmosphere around the factory, majority of people in the municipality do not know about the factory. There is no advertisement about the factory and the factory relies only on word on mouth to spread information about the recycling factory.

The Surya Factory is the first of its kind in the district with many people in Bhojpur unware of the hidden gem right in their district, much less about the possibility of recycling old clothes. However, the company has a good chance of succeeding even in such a rural area because it provides a wide array of economic and environmental 

benefits to people, according to Bhojpur’s Rahan Singh Rai, principal of Bahumukhi Campus.