The international community is dialing up expectations for sustainability in the clothing industry, but Bangladesh has a lot of work to do to meet higher standards, according to Reuters.
What's happening?
The European Union recently published a roadmap for meeting its Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. A major part of this is setting laws for recycling textile waste.
Bangladesh is the world's second-largest textiles exporter and produces an estimated 577,000 metric tons of commercial textile waste each year. One challenge is that the processes for making clothing in Bangladesh are informal, making it difficult to regulate.
"This is a very opaque process, offering limited visibility of the waste value chain to clothing brands and suppliers," said Asadun Noor, project coordinator at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, per Reuters.
The other challenge is that clothing demand is continuing to ramp up.
Why is recycling in the clothing industry important?
Textile recycling poses a strong economic opportunity. Estimates suggest Bangladesh could save $700 million a year in raw material imports. Neighboring India is proving that it's possible to do better. It is already recycling 60% of its textile waste, according to another report.
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The reforms also offer an opportunity to improve working conditions. Employees are usually women who are offered no sick leave, limited access to drinking water, and can make only $80 each month.
When left to landfill, clothing produces methane, which traps heat in the atmosphere and exacerbates weather patterns that are causing loads of destruction. Manufacturing produces a slew of localized costs, especially in water pollution. By diligently recycling what scraps the industry can, some of those ecological stressors can be curtailed.
What's being done about textile recycling?
There's a willingness among Bangladeshi clothing recyclers to scale up to meet demand, but they need support.
"What we now need is more finance and collaboration among brands, suppliers, waste handlers and recyclers to scale up our capacity," said Abdullah Rafi, CEO of recycler Broadway Regenerated Fiber, per Reuters.
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