The most commonly used thickeners for printing cotton fabric is synthetic, but in view of eco friendly nature, partly substituting tamarind kernel powder represents an acceptable alternative. Therefore, an attempt was made to screen print cotton fabric with tamarind kernel powder with different concentration, evaluate the visual appearance of printed fabric for various parameters. Results revealed that 10 per cent concentration of thickening agent showed best results in terms of colour fastness to washing, perspiration and light and also possessed good physical characteristics. So this concentration of thickening agent was finally selected for the screen printing.

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Management of discarded fabric has become one of the problems we are facing today. The huge amount of discarded fabric generated mostly by textile mills, manufacturing units, boutiques, tailor shops and household sectors. Considerable amount of discarded fabric is dumped in open areas and incinerated after removing small percentage for recycling and reuse. This accumulation of discarded fabric from all over the country causes certain serious environmental problems and health hazards. 20 tailor shops / boutiques were selected and questionnaire was designed to find out and collect type of discarded fabric available. Discarded biodegradable fabrics i.e. cotton and silk, available in high amount at tailor shops / boutiques and used for development of bio-fertilizer.