Students at UET create clothing out of okra vegetables

By Mariam Siddiqui
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April 21, 2022
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Textile experts at UET Lahore's Faisalabad Campus have managed to turn waste Okra (lady finger) into useful textiles. Prof Dr. Mohsin, Chairman of the Textile Engineering Department, lead the study team.

Pakistan is the world's third-largest producer of okra, with an annual output of more than 180 million kilos. The vegetable is grown on 45,000 acres of land across the United States. Plant waste, on the other hand, is usually burned, resulting in excessive pollution and health problems in the country.

It's tough to transform okra fibre into yarn, cloth, or other coloured forms. However, scientists have figured out how to make the most of it. To address this stumbling block, the engineers devised a novel, chemical-free method.

The researchers combined okra fibre with cotton fibre to create yarn at the mini-spinning lab. This cutting-edge lab is Pakistan's first of its type, and it's already being put to good use.

The fabric was coloured with a natural dye created at the UET Textile Department utilising another intellectual property (IP)-based technology, making the entire process bio-based and organic. This breakthrough will not only save money, but it will also help to keep our country clean, green, and pollution-free.