Inefficient and environmentally unsustainable practices within and beyond factories are severely impacting lives of Dhaka residents and its neighbouring locations, experts say. Underscoring their observations at a IFC-initiated dialogue, they emphasised voluntary actions by the industry and working together towards lowering sectoral barriers. The dialogue encourages the use of environment-friendly goods and recognises the role of the Textile Sustainability Platform (TSP) in promoting sustainable practices in the textile sector in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) has recently launched the TSP which is a national-level dialogue programme aimed at addressing resource use efficiency, and environmental sustainability of the textile sector. The platform also aims to establish the social capital for dialogue between public and private institutions by convening the stakeholders for improving the policy and regulatory framework.

The TSP operates through working groups (WGs) that focus on policy and regulations, voluntary actions by industry, and access to finance. Based on a series of deliberations of the WGs with support from Policy Research Institute (PRI), the platform has proposed several recommendations to the relevant government authorities for their consideration.

Textiles is a crucial sector that contributes approximately 80 per cent of export earnings and employs over 4 million people, the textile sector is also one of the most resource-hungry sectors, and a major contributor to wastewater pollution.