Laudes Foundation is inviting proposals from an independent organisation or consortium to conduct an assessment of the availability and viability of agricultural waste and residue to use as feedstock for production of textile fibres at scale.

Complete proposals must be submitted by 5.30pm IST on Friday, 17 April 2020.  Download the full RFP here.

Introduction

Laudes Foundation is an independent foundation here to advance the transition to a just and regenerative economy. We do this by supporting brave action that will inspire and challenge industry to harness its power for good. Action that inspires industry, to work collaboratively to create solutions and tools. And action that challenges industry, holding it to account and incentivizing change.

Founded in 2020, Laudes Foundation is part of the Brenninkmeijer family enterprise and builds on six generations of entrepreneurship and philanthropy. Laudes Foundation is taking forward the industry-changing work of C&A Foundation and is working persistently and collaboratively to drive change at the systems-level while also working to influence capital and transform industry.

Under the fashion vertical of the foundation, one of the focus areas is to work towards making the global material mix sustainable through the Materials programme. The Materials programme is commissioning an assessment of the availability and viability of agricultural waste & residue to use as feedstock for production of textile fibres at scale. Some initial research on identifying technical innovations using agricultural waste & residue as feedstock has been conducted. This study is intended to build on the research and propose recommendations on specific waste and residue that is feasible to be diverted to the textile industry at scale. The study shall:

▪          Provide a detailed analysis of quantity of agriculture waste & residue (i) generated and (ii) available & viable for use as feedstock for textile fibre production;

▪          Map geographic hubs for sourcing such agriculture waste & residue; and

▪          Provide actionable recommendations for streamlining supply chain & logistics to enable scale up of agriculture waste & residue feedstock for use in textile fibre production.

The request for proposals presents a brief description of the expected outcomes of the study, the background and context, scope, purpose, expected deliverables and indicative timelines, along with consultant qualifications and projected level of effort.

We anticipate the study to be completed and submitted to Laudes Foundation by Friday, 31 July 2020.

Please submit a technical and financial proposal as two separate files (per details given below) to Karan Kumar and Lakshmi Poti via materials@laudesfoundation.org with the subject line “ORG NAME: Agricultural Waste & Residue as Feedstock_Proposal” by 5.30PM (IST) on Friday, 17 April 2020.