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Text: Angelique Dhama, Chief Executive Office, OBEETEE

Obeetee is a dynamic and ethical company driven by design excellence, quality craftsmanship and process innovation. One  the prominent environmentally-sensitive brands, the brand ensure that the environment doesn’t suffer under its active initiatives towards sustainability.

In the rug industry, water is used when washing the carpets – typically 30 buckets per square yard. Obeetee abides by its conservation efforts with merchandised washing (low concentration of detergent and limited water) to wash the carpets, follows an effluent treatment process to residual water and water recycling facility. The heated water is reused to dye the yarns, thus limited water is used in its maximum capacity.

The effluent water treatment process involves the Channeling, primary treatment, secondary treatment and tertiary treatment. In the first step, the water used to dye and wash carpets is directed to the water effluent treatment plant through planned drainage systems. In the second step, the water is treated with alum and lime. The water is treated with live bacteria that is cultivated in-house to clear the water of organic waste. Finally, the water is filtered through sand and carbon filters, and released outside for irrigation purposes.

Each building of Obeetee has a rainwater harvesting plant, which is used to recharge groundwater – this has reduced water consumption by 90 per cent. Solar power panels at the factory in Mirzapur generates 30 per cent of the brand’s energy requirements at the factory. Locally-sourced rice husks in place of coal, which generates steam for the dye plant and reduces carbon footprint.

Plastic bottles are recycled to make PET yarns, which are durable and resilient, are used to make outdoor rugs. Natural colors are used such as indigo and saffron, along with RWS certified wool for ethical sourcing.