A new study states, around 6 per cent local garment factories have incorporated sustainability into their business models as a part of their post-pandemic recovery, reports Daily Star. Conducted by BGMEA in association with UNDP and Global Report Initiative (GRI), the study says, post pandemic around 42 per cent factories aim to reduce energy, waste and resource consumption in the next three years by 2 to 15 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption every year by 5 to 25 per cent.

Around 34 per cent have been practicing ‘reuse’ or ‘recycle’ for waste policy. Nearly 98 per cent have an environmental grievance mechanism system, of which 6 per cent have taken immediate action on receiving complaints about disposal of solid waste in local waters. Some 15 per cent have used recycled water in production or sanitation facilities and 23 per cent practised rainwater harvesting for gardening, car washing or sanitation facilities.

A majority or 91 per cent use borewell water while 32 per cent sourcing it from municipality infrastructure. The factories claim to discharge water from effluent treatment plants on testing parameters as per the ZDHC guidelines including hydrogen levels, chemical and biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended and dissolved solids, temperature and colour.

The Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) program has been taken up by a group of apparel and footwear brands and retailers while 9 per cent claimed to discharge treated water in rivers and the rest into sewer lines.

The data claims all participants had an environment management system and reduced plastic consumption by an average of 30 per cent in the past three years