Bangladesh’s garment-making industry is getting greener

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Pollution from textile production—dyes, chemicals, and heavy metals like lead and cadmium—is common in the waters of the Buriganga River as it runs through Dhaka, Bangladesh. It’s among many harms posed by a garment sector that was once synonymous with tragedy: In 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza factory building collapsed, killing 1,134 people and injuring some 2,500 others. 

But things are starting to change. In recent years the country has quietly become an unlikely leader in “frugal” factories that use a combination of resource-efficient technologies to cut waste, conserve water, and build resilience against climate impacts and global supply disruptions. Bangladesh now boasts 268 LEED-certified garment factories—more than any other country. Dye plants are using safer chemicals, tanneries are adopting cleaner tanning methods and treating wastewater, workshops are switching to more efficient LED lighting, and solar panels glint from rooftops. The hundreds of factories along the Buriganga’s banks and elsewhere in Bangladesh are starting to stitch together a new story, woven from greener threads.

The shift to green factories in Bangladesh is financed through a combination of factory investments, loans from Bangladesh Bank’s Green Transformation Fund, and pressure from international buyers who reward compliance with ongoing orders. One prominent program is the Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT), an initiative run by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation. Launched in 2013, PaCT has worked with more than 450 factories on cleaner production methods. By its count, the effort now saves 35 billion liters of fresh water annually, enough to meet the needs of 1.9 million people.

It’s a good start, but Bangladesh’s $40 billion garment industry still has a long way to go. The shift to environmentalism at the factory level hasn’t translated to improved outcomes for the sector’s 4.4 million workers. Wage theft and delayed payments are widespread. The minimum wage, some 12,500 taka per month (about $113), is far below the $200 proposed by unions—which has meant frequent strikes and protests over pay, overtime, and job security. “Since Rana Plaza, building safety and factory conditions have improved, but the mindset remains unchanged,” says A.K.M. Ashraf Uddin, executive director of the Bangladesh Labour Foundation, a nonprofit labor rights group. “Profit still comes first, and workers’ freedom of speech is yet to be realized.”

In the worst case, greener industry practices could actually exacerbate inequality. Smaller factories dominate the sector, and they struggle to afford upgrades. But without those upgrades, businesses could find themselves excluded from certain markets. One of those is the European Union, which plans to require companies to address human rights and environmental problems in supply chains starting in 2027. A cleaner Buriganga River mends just a small corner of a vast tapestry of need.  The smaller factories that dominate the garment sector may struggle to invest in green upgrades.

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