KOCHI: With used clothes, slippers, etc. coming from other parts of the country creating a headache, the district administration in association with a Delhi-based NGO is planning to start a unit to recycle old clothing.Truckloads of old and used clothing from other states have been stored in the godowns at Kalamassery Maradu and Kadavanthra as it can’t be distributed to the flood-hit people due to its inferior quality and lack of cleanliness.The Delhi-based NGO has promised to start unit to recycle all the old clothes. The district administration will have to provide them space to set up the units. They held talks with district collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla on Saturday.The NGO plans to make beds, cloth bags, etc. using the old clothes kept in the godowns. “Voluntary organizations from here also are expected to offer their services for making such things,” a source said.“The officials with the district administration had already identified several consignments, which contain old clothes and other articles that can’t be used or distributed to the flood-affected families. However, the officials didn’t get enough time for opening all the parcels and checking them up. Now, more and more such consignments have been noticed. The district administration had been exploring the ways to handle such items,” a source said.The district administration has already taken over many godowns in different parts of the city for storing the clothes and other items received from different parts of the state and country.“These godowns are big ones and were taken over for storing the articles. The godowns would have to be returned to the owners. So, we would have to identify some auditoria or conference halls, which can be taken over for a long period,” an official said.The officials are trying to identify some godowns or auditoria in Paravur area. “They would require some time for recycling all the stuff. Once the space is ready, they may start the operations within a week,” an official said.There are instances of NGOs and other individuals who facilitated the supply of clothes and other goods for the flood-affected areas being cheated. “I had engaged in facilitating supply of various things needed for flood-hit people in the state. We managed to procure such items from different parts of the country. We could also ensure that the dresses and household appliances, etc that were procured, thus, had been distributed to the needy,” said Subha Rao, a freelance journalist from Mangaluru.“Still, we had a problem. We got an offer from a person for supplying clothes, slippers, etc. to the flood-hit areas. We offered to facilitate the supply of the parcel. The consignment was from Siliguri and the things inside the consignment were pilfered while it was transported to Coimbatore. We didn’t get to know about it and the consignment was brought to Chengannur. When we started offloading it, we noticed that most of the goods are used ones. So, we had to return,” she said.Officials with district administration said that they had found some parcels, which were pasted with label “waste clothes” on it.

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