The textile wholesale store of the Pyongyang municipal wholesale trade management office has a cotton-producing workteam which turns out quilts and other consumer goods using cloth scraps collected from knitting and textile mills and garment factories.
At present, it annually produces scores of kinds of consumer goods with the scraps, including over 40 tons of cotton, tens of thousands of quilts, more than 10 000 slates and tens of thousands of metres of ropes.
It is not a special production unit but the small wholesale store is achieving unbelievable results. The secret of success is that the store regards recycling as a sure way to develop it and steadily pushes ahead with recycling.
When Kwon Won Man suggested taking up recycling just after being appointed director of the store over 10 years ago, many of its employees were sceptical about the idea.
But when they succeeded in producing cotton and quilts after overcoming heaps of trials and difficulties, employees raised a shout of joy.
Kwon, however, didn’t rest on his laurels, but set a goal of using all the cotton waste from the production process.
He once looked round the slate production process of other unit on his business trip, when he learned that it was relying on import for some raw materials.
So he acquainted himself with the mixing ratio of the materials for slate before returning to his store, and became convinced that cotton waste can be used for making quality slates after a constant search and intense speculation.
Afterwards, a slate production base was built and its production using cotton waste was put on a regular basis.
The store proceeded to increase the variety of consumer goods including shoulder pads, insoles, sportswear and children’s wear and came to produce quality ropes of different sizes and even soundproof and lagging materials some years later.
Its Kumjandi-brand products were highly appreciated at national commodity and consumer goods exhibitions.
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