H&M and M&S join hands to tackle textile waste in Bangladesh

Along with more than 30 brands, manufacturers and recyclers, H&M and Marks & Spencer are also taking initiatives to work on recycling projects to reduce textile waste in Bangladesh. Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) along with partners like Reserve Resources, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and P4G, aims to achieve a long-term, scalable transition to a circular fashion system.

Circular Fashion Partnership launched in November builds a network between brands, manufacturers and recyclers to come together and think of innovative solutions to carry out recycling processes of the post-industrial fashion waste accumulated in Bangladesh and curate new products out of them. It is also focusing to find solutions for the deadstock piled up due to the covid-19 lockdown and engage investors around economic opportunities for the country. Their manufacturers include Amantex,  Asrotex Group, Auko-tex Group, Aurum Sweaters, Beximo, Bitopi Group, Composite Knitting Industry Ltd. and many more. Among the recyclers, meanwhile, are Birla Cellulose, Cyclo, Infinited Fibre Company,  Malek Spinning Mills, Marchi & Fildi Spa, Worn Again Technologies and many more.

Through this huge network, they want to attain a business model that regulates circular economy and processes. It plans to increase the use of recycled fibers, thereby, generating more economic opportunities and beneficiaries in Bangladesh. This has been an effort to make Bangladesh a leader in circularity by scaling the recycling capacity in the country and generating more value from these waste streams.

Morten Lehman, chief sustainability officer at Global Fashion Agenda is thrilled to announce the establishment of the Circular Fashion Partnership and the participation of many prestigious companies for the same.

Miran Ali, director of BGMEA, strongly supports the acceptance of circular economy for the fashion industry as it is the future of the fashion industry and it’s high time that we should discontinue the linear model of business that is “take, make and dispose ” Nowadays, due to conscious demand for circular apparel brands are implementing and pledging new projects to move towards sustainability and so do the manufacturers have to align themselves in the same direction. Bangladesh is a place where larger volumes of the same item are being produced, so it can bring the country an opportunity to become a global leader in the area of circular economy and the Circular Fashion Partnership will provide Bangladesh with the platform to start its journey for the same. This project asks for practical solutions that would provide recycling technologies efficiency and optimized outcomes when sourcing textile waste and use traceability as a tool. Post-production waste is currently the low hanging fruit for supporting this emerging recycling industry to start closing the loop at scale, whilst we prepare for the even greater challenge of circulating post-consumer waste.