New Filipino yarn innovation facility for natural fibre blends
The Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has approved a roughly $831,000 (40 million Philippine pesos) investment in a new regional yarn production and innovation centre within Isabela State University’s Ilagan campus.
Part of the Filipino inclusive innovation textiles empowering lives anew programme, spearheaded by the DOST-Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI), the new, microscale yarn spinning facility will produce yarns from blends of natural fibres such as banana, abaca and pineapple leaves with cotton, according to reports.
The Cagayan State University’s Gonzaga campus (a nationally important site for bamboo research and development) will further provide raw bamboo material to the facility.
It is hoped that the new centre will accelerate the development of the local textile industry, local media said, while also benefitting the region’s disaster risk reduction management, as the cultivation of bamboo will mitigate against erosion and flooding in the locality.
DOST-PTRI director, Celia B. Elumba, commented that the facility has environmental, economic and cultural significance for the nation as a whole.
Image: Unsplash. Credit: Anna Auza
