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Sericulture: Prospect to Address the Global Challenges of Climate Change and Microplastic in Textile Sector
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This paper argued that sericulture — the production of silk from silkworms — offers environmental advantages over synthetic textile production as a natural alternative to polyester and nylon fibers that shed microplastic particles during washing. Silk is biodegradable and its production cycle has a lower microplastic footprint than synthetic textiles. The authors proposed expanding sericulture as part of climate change mitigation strategies in the textile sector.
The climate change and microplastic are the two important global concerns, which are well accepted by global fraternity. The textile industry is also having direct concern under the changing environmental condition and polluted environment. Some studies proclaim the negative effects of the sericulture on environment without considering the complete cycle of the sink and source. By looking into deep through pro-active research in soil-to-soil approach, it is possible to establish that sericulture is having the intrinsic capacity to reduce the global burden of the global warming as well as the microplastic pollution. Some initial attempts were already taken in this direction but the synchronised continuous attempts are essentially the need of the hour. In this study, the available research outputs and respective research gaps through systematic pro-active research and institutional pathways are discussed towards achieving the carbon neutrality and sustainability in silk production and sericulture research.
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