Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Textile dyeing and processing industry in India is resisting the demands of zero liquid discharge system (ZLD). Environmental Campaigners want the industry to switch to zero discharge to save soil and water resources from being further polluted. The industry is responsible for releasing millions of liters of toxic wastewater which has destroyed water and soil systems in the neighborhood.

India's two largest textile manufacturing hubs are in Tirupur (South India) and Ludhiana (North India). On petitions filed by environmentalists, Madras High Court has ordered to shut down all dyeing units in Tirupur for failing to implementing ZLD.

In Ludhiana, the dyers associations are opposing similar demands from a local environmental activist. Read here.

These campaigns also expose a serious fault in multinational retailers' supply chain responsibility programmes. Retailers' current code of conduct programme does not extend to textile dyeing and processing units even though these units account for the largest environmental impact in the textile supply chain.