Friends Cotton Waste

Friends Cotton Waste is our small business located at No. 5 Maraimalai Adigal Street. We are over in Srinivasa Nagar in the Perungalathur area. What we do is pretty straightforward—we handle cotton waste. It’s a lot of sorting through materials and packing them up. The air in the shop is usually full of lint, and we wear masks to keep from breathing it all in. It’s a dusty job but someone has to do it. We get our supplies from various places and then process them here. Our street is mostly residential but we have our little workspace set up. It isn't a massive factory, just a local spot where we get our hands dirty every day. We’ve been in Perungalathur for quite some time now. Most of the people working here are friends or family, which is how we got the name. We don't have a website or fancy marketing. We just work with the local industries that need what we produce. It’s a humble way to make a living. The days can be long, especially when we have a big shipment to get out. We just stack the bags and keep moving. It’s practical work that serves a purpose for the bigger mills and factories around the state. We often drink tea together during our mid-morning break while sitting on the stacks of processed cotton outside the main door.