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Bangladesh needs to adopt a holistic strategy with clear directions and framework to formalise textile waste collection and policy support to address the challenges to build a thriving circular ecosystem in the country.
The country's textile and garment industry annually produces about 400,000 tonnes of pre-consumer waste and they are collected in an informal way.
If the waste is recycled and garments produced for exports, it will help the country additionally earn US$5.0 to $6.0 billion.
To explore and grab the business opportunity of circularity from the waste, collective approaches have been stressed for reducing its environmental impact, improving its economic performance, and creating social benefits.
The observations and recommendations were made at a dialogue on 'Switch to Upstream Circularity Dialogue: Pre-consumer Textile Waste in Bangladesh" at the Amari Hotel in the city on Sunday.
The dialogue that covered the strategies, policies, infrastructure, collaborations, and innovations necessary to build a thriving circular ecosystem in Bangladesh was organised under the Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains project (SWITCH2CE), co-funded by the European Union and the Government of Finland.
Saber Hossain Chowdhury, member of parliament and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, was present at the event as the chief guest which was also attended by a diverse group of stakeholders including brands, manufacturers, policymakers, and financial institutions.
Dr Bernd Spanier, deputy head of mission, Delegation of European Union to Bangladesh, also spoke.
The event comprised two panel discussions centered on critical topics such as the business model and incentives for various manufacturers in Bangladesh to proactively participate in circular ecosystems, the criteria for textile waste management processes to capture value in the country, and how to ensure the inclusion of, and collaboration with, current traders.
Speaking at a session, M Masrur Reaz, chairman of Policy Exchange Bangladesh, said Bangladesh needs holistic vision which provides direction, clarity and stance of the country in terms of circularity where it aspires to be starting with textile and garment industry.
He also advocated for enabling framework saying the waste ecosystem is overwhelmingly informal and many vested interests are involved.
"Bangladesh would need a legal or mandatory framework for formalising the waste collection and also to roll out formal waste collection system once formal regulatory system is provided," he noted.
Mr Reaz also stressed regulations and policy supports to encourage investment here to introduce new technologies and machinery, among others.
Explaining the government's measures in protecting environment, Mr Chowdhury also termed waste management 'concern and challenging' and stressed policy support and fiscal incentive while addressing the opening of the event. He further stressed up-cycling saying up-cycling adds value in the supply chain.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Faruque Hassan said Bangladesh is one of the largest producers of textile scraps in the world, around 400,000 tonnes of pre-consumer textile waste is produced annually, of which only 5.0 per cent is recycled locally and over 35 per cent is incinerated in boiler or land filled.
This post-industrial textile waste, popularly known as "Jhut", has posed a different challenge to overcome in the path towards achieving circularity in the textile industry of Bangladesh.
In the majority of the cases, this waste remains an unsegregated, contaminated burden on the producers, who sell it at the lowest value to the stakeholders.
"Now, we can establish a new economic sector altogether if we recycle and re-use those textile wastes," he explained.
He urged the government to waive the 7.5 per cent and 15 per cent VAT on local mills producing recycle fibre and yarn, and waive duty on imported cotton waste, clips and mutilated garments to ensure adequate supply of raw materials for locally established Recycle Fiber production mills. He also underlined the need for policy support saying they need a number of enabling factors to build a circular eco-system for the industry that included finance, technologies and skilled people at right proportion to support the transition toward circularity.
BGMEA vice president Shahidullah Azim sought financial support from banks saying US$6.0 to $7.0 billion could be earned from export of garments produced from recycled yarn and fabric if the opportunity is fully grabbed.