Circularity to reduce environmental impact and enhance growth
- Staff Correspondent
In the global fashion industry, the much talked about issue is reuse, recycling, and circularity as the sector is the most polluted one and responsible for the highest carbon emission. On average, a single kilogram of denim can require up to 250 liters of water, while cotton and cotton blend fabrics require 150-200 liters per kilogram. This results in an annual usage of 1,500 billion liters of water, which is equivalent to the household usage of water for 20 million people of Dhaka city for 5-10 months.
Now the textile industry wants resource conservation, waste elimination and enhancing efficiency within the supply chain and improving the sustainability of the manufacturing process. The issue came under the spotlight heavily as consumers are becoming more cautious about the impact of the fashion industry on the earth.
Figure 1: Representatives of global fashion brands, diplomats, lawmakers, and development agencies emphasize going circular economy for reducing the environmental impact of the textile and apparel industry.
The fast fashion industry is contributing to a significant amount of waste globally. It is estimated that approximately 92 million tons of textile waste are generated globally each year (Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation). As much as 12% of fibers are still discarded on factory floors, 25% of fast fashion garments remain unsold, and less than 1% of products are recycled into new garments.
Global consumers and environmentalists are putting pressure on brands and manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions and save the planet from pollution. As a result, the circularity and circular economy got the attention of all corners of the world. This concept can be materialized through a circular economy.
Bangladesh as the second largest exporter of the apparels is on the radar of both the buyers and the environmentalists.
Groundwater depletion has concerned authorities and world leaders for some time now. Bangladesh is facing a crisis for groundwater depletion level. The issue of declining groundwater levels in areas with high concentrations of washing and dyeing factories is a growing concern.
Recently, representatives of global fashion brands, diplomats, lawmakers, and development agencies emphasize going circular economy for reducing the environmental impact of the textile and apparel industry as well as going for further growth.
“The fashion industry needs to accelerate its transformation towards circularity as the way forward to solve the biggest challenges we face, not only companies but societies in general, such as climate change and biodiversity loss,” said Leyla Ertur, Global Head of Sustainability, H&M Group.
“We need to join forces to build a circular fashion ecosystem and Bangladesh is unique as the country with the world’s largest share of pre-consumer textile waste readily available for recycling, she said.
Bangladesh has a great potential to attract investments from local and foreign investors to scale up the production of high-value recycled fibers from pre-consumer waste, said Leyla.
“However, we are well aware the industry needs advancing policy to regulate the waste handling sector to move forward in this area."
Meanwhile, as the largest importing block the European Union also wants Bangladesh in the leading position to introduce a circular economy and reduce carbon emissions.
“Bangladesh is one of the largest producers of readymade garments and it also one of the largest producers of garment waste as a result. The country is a middle-class economy and will have a high demand for raw materials in the future”, said Bernd Spanier, Deputy Head of Delegation, Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh.
In this context, I would like to emphasize two important things regarding the topic of circular economy. The first is the circulation of waste and recycling technologies. Without open trade on this issue, we are undermining the potential, said the diplomat, Bernd Spanier said.
So, any restriction or ban on waste would be counter to our goal. Secondly, the circular economy should be fueled by renewable energy because it will be of no use if you have a clean circular economy that is fueled by dirty fuels, which contradicts the purpose, said Bernd.
Encouraging circularity and reducing waste is vital. Brands should strive to create durable, long-lasting products that can be repaired, reused, or recycled. To ensure fashion’s sustainability and achieve a circular fashion industry, it must be possible to track all the elements of a product from the materials used, chemicals added, production practices, and product use, to the end of life, as well as the social and environmental conditions under which it was made.
“We want to help Bangladesh by providing knowledge to inspire, and technologies to transfer. For that, we are setting up a European Chamber of Commerce. We will try to get a platform because we need to exchange knowledge”, he added.
Bangladesh is the largest producer in the garment sector. It is one of the largest producers of garment waste. Let it also be one of the most significant actors in the circular economy in the world, he added.
Figure 2: Circularity to reduce environmental impact and enhance growth.
Along with the international stakeholders, local policy maker also urged the manufacturers to go on circular production to ensure the usage of less natural resources.
“In a traditional economy which is linear, we produce, consume, and throw away is not sustainable. So, we need to make the shift from a linear to a circular economy to keep resources in use for as long as possible and extract and harvest the maximum value from the products whilst in use. For that the business cases for circularity has to be win-win for manufacturers and buyers.” said Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, Special Envoy to Prime Minister of Bangladesh (Environment & Climate Change).
On top of that, donor agencies also want clean production and circularity for future and sustainable growth.
In the past, we used to think first of development then compliance. But now we think first of compliance and then development. We care about the environment and sustainability, said Edimon Ginting, Country Director, Bangladesh Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank.
Circularity is the key to this end the future business will depend on it, he added.
According to sources, the economic value of the circular economy is obvious, and in terms of monetary value, it is estimated that the world economy could be improved by $192 billion by 2030 if the fashion industry addresses the problems presented by its current linear economy.
However, there are challenges to moving towards circular fashion. According to the latest study by the US Fashion Industry Association, higher sourcing costs and low-profit margins are the top challenges in expanding the sourcing of clothing using recycled or other sustainable textile materials.