Palm | Kelapa Sawit

A significant amount of environmental impact in the apparel & textile industry comes from the use of dyes, colors and chemicals. So dyes and colors manufacturers have an important role to play in promoting sustainability in the textile supply chain by developing and introducing eco-friendly chemicals. Equally important is for them to reduce their own carbon and water footprint.



DyStar Group, a top manufacturer of eco-friendly dyes for the textile industry, has taken the lead by releasing it's first carbon footprint report.



The company says "the report will serve as the baseline for measuring future progress in reducing DyStar’s carbon emissions and is a key component of what will be DyStar’s first Sustainability Report which is due to be published in Q4 2011."



Announcing the release of the report Steve Barron, CEO commented, “We are today taking the first few steps on the journey towards sustainability. As a responsible company we acknowledge that we have a critical role to play in mitigating climate change by introducing products and services that reduce carbon emissions of our customers, and by reducing our own carbon footprint.”



Barron says that Carbon reduction teams are being established at each of the major production sites to drive down the carbon intensity of the manufacturing operations and to set DyStar on the path to becoming a carbon-smart company.

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.

Hundreds of textile bleaching and dyeing mills in the South Indian city of Tirupur have been ordered to shut down by the Madras High Court in response to public petitions. Tirupur is one of the largest textile manufacturing hubs in Asia where most multinational retailers have suppliers.

Farmers groups have alleged that textile units dumped untreated effluent in the Noyyal river which farmers rely on for irrigation.

The court order also includes closing down Common Effluent Treatment Plants and Integrated Effluent Treatment Plants in the area. These plants were set up by the government agencies mostly to treat wastewater from textile mills. In a previous order in 2006, the court had directed these plants to achieve "zero liquid discharge" level. In the latest court filing, it is alleged that these units failed to comply with the court order and continued to operate and pollute the area.

Textile industry associations have banded together to put pressure on the government to allow effluent discharge until an acceptable solution is found. Farmers lobby is opposed to any leniency toward polluting textile industry.

Observers say that the industry has not taken its responsibility for wastewater treatment seriously in spite of repeated campaigns by farmers in the past. The industry is accused of destroying large tracts of farmland by contaminating water and land by dumping untreated toxic wastewater.

There have been reports in the past alleging that though textile units install wastewater treatment plants to meet retailers' code of conduct requirement, they seldom operate these plants because running treatment plants costs money! Government inspectors don't mind looking the other way as long as their palms are greased.

Tirupur is a key sourcing destination for knitted garments for a number of large and small multinational retailers. None of them has reacted publicly so far to the developments in Tirupur.

The city's textile industry also provides thousands of jobs. These jobs are now at risk as hundreds of units are now closed due to the court order. Trade unions have given a call to shut down the entire city tomorrow to put pressure on the government to find a solution so that units can be opened and jobs can be saved.

See more here

And here