The problem of uncontrolled appetite is applicable to almost all areas of human engagement including production of clothes. The problems do not arise from the aspiration of the naked to clad herself but from the limitless cravings of the well-clad for diverse and more of everything. As progress gets measured according to the volume and value of materials you possess as private property (even if it fails to give you even one minute of peaceful life), majority are driven into the dream of having more of anything, including designer clothes.
The environmental dimensions of such craving for more and diverse clothing are not merely an environmental issue. They are intertwined with political, economic, sociological and even psychological factors related to day-to-day existence of humans. Therefore, we have attempted an analysis of the environmental dimension of our focus area—Tirupur knitwear cluster—in this section. This is part of our efforts to understand the backward and forward environmental linkages of garment production. This is essential because we should understand the linkages before launching the improvement/network actions for making the supply chain socially and environmentally more clean...
Production of clothes, including knitwear, is a massive global business linking the high tech, modern malls of the metropolis and the impoverished villages spread far and wide with every day struggles for survival by millions who produce the cotton and clothes used even by the billionaires of the world. This links the life dynamics of the creamy economic layer and the destitute villagers Majority of the well-fed and well-clad people don’t produce their food or clothes today, nor they bother about or know who produced it and how it was produced. If we consider these two realities without getting into emotional and nationalist political traps, we could realise that this would be yet another paradox of the current paradigm of development.
Nick Robins and Sarah Roberts (www.iied.org) sums the issues concerning responses in the market place towards the emerging issues and trends in the interaction of trade and environmental concerns at a global level.
Environmental Standards Compliance
in Tirupur Knitwear Cluster
The trade-offs between sustainability of nature and the varied human engagement with nature that results in both positive and negative impacts is a point of countless debates during the last many centuries. But, the acceleration of technologies driven from the point of view of profit, with much concern about the consumable end product and without similar concern about the waste and pollution such technologies produce, have become an arena of conflicting theorization during the past few centuries. Humanity is so enthusiastic and happy about the diversity and beauty of the things that come out from the front gates of factories. But humanity is extremely careless or conveniently forgets about the ‘shit-ends’ of the processes that produce the beautiful and useful things. Now there is extensive realization within large segments of humanity about the unsustainable nature of technologies that failed to see and manage the things coming out from the end of the pipes of the factories.
Environment and the Global Trade Systems
The conflicting theorisations over the limits of resources and the unlimited human wants are also an issue of endless debates. Yet the fact is that humans still exist and survive almost in the same patterns over centuries. But, the shapes, colours and uses of many things that nature bestowed had changed from the original through reshaping done by science and technology. Major part of product diversity existing today is only a diversity of reshaping and duplication with only marginal changes.
The human-nature interactions are very complex and confusing because they are neither linear nor cyclical; they present certain levels of chaos. These complex interactions have peculiar forms and manifestations in every activity of humans. The survival processes of breathing the air, drinking the water, eating the food and clothing the body and all the diverse engagements that engendered from the needs of these processes are part of the complex web of life.
Our concern here—clothing—too has its own backward and forward webs and linkages with almost all human affairs as well as with its sources and varied forms of shaping it to fit the human body. Humans have travelled a long way from Adam and Eve (if one believes the religious version) and from the Neanderthal man and their kin (if one wants to be more ‘scientific’ in belief) and their sense of nakedness that prompted them to cover their vital parts (as procreation is the most vital function any animal has to undertake, sexual organs are a vital biological equipment) with what was available to cover them, to reach the current age of catwalks and fabric malls that display the diversity of covering the human body or even projecting the beauty of nakedness to satiate the needs of voyeurism through artistically controlled clothing patterns called designs.
The transformation of varied elements of nature, shaped and reshaped by humans over centuries, to produce the things to cover the body also relied on the vital elements that sustain the survival of humans and other beings. While humans boast about the success achieved in accumulating the huge volume of knowledge concerning reshaping the elements of nature according to needs, human knowledge concerning nature, its diverse elements and their interactional dynamics is very limited.
For instance, humans started studying and classifying other beings in the world (taxonomy) in the era of Aristotle (300-200 BC). After two millennia, humans reached only at the level of knowing only 1.7 % of the approximate 100 million species on the Earth, ranging from single cell amoeba to the complex vertebrates including humans. Taxonomic knowledge (which is the basis for understanding the bounty of nature’s diversity and is the basis for all other human knowledges including knowledge concerning production of commodities) of humanity achieved remarkable strides concerning plants and vertebrates with basic knowledge concerning 2,50,000 species of plants out of the total 3,00,000 species on the Earth and with knowledge concerning 45,000 species out of the total 50,000 species of vertebrates in the world. But, humans still reached at the level of detailed knowledge only about less than 5000 plant species which are used as food, medicine and for other products including clothing. This puts a huge block on human knowledge concerning the round the clock dynamics of nature in which organic and inorganic matter plays vital roles and shapes and reshapes the world without any possibility of control by humans.
A major share of clothing comes from plants, either as natural fibres or man-made fibres, and the rest comes from animals and other elements of nature. The process of transformation of these elements of nature into things to cover human bodies too uses a large measure of other elements vital for survival of humans such as water and firewood/fuel.
Water and Survival
Water seems to be the most important element that assures human survival and also facilitate a large segment of human activities on a daily basis. In the production of clothing too water is a major component, leading to conflict of interests-water as a natural means for basic survival of all beings of the Earth and water as an industrial raw material for production of goods including food, clothes and many others, and water as a packaged commodity.
The political economy and the science of water, a common property freely available to quench one’s thirst and for other needs, is an even more complex terrain that launched itself from the age of Roman Empire with its first water supply network using copper pipes. Roman engineering reshaped the systems of the ancient world through its water supply pipes. But tens of thousands of Romans died of poisoning caused by drinking water flowing through the ‘high technology’ of copper pipes of that day, as science of the day failed to understand the result of constant interaction of copper with water.
Industrial revolution and later strides in the science of production of commodities have contributed to high acceleration in reaping the fruits of nature’s labour by humans. As this process of acceleration, mainly guided by a craving to accumulate value, the possible negative fallouts were either denied or downplayed. But, a time has come that showed that nature could no longer suffer the massivenes of ‘factory shit’ as the volume became beyond its natural ability to clean up, and it naturally boomeranged on those responsible for the creation of it—the humans.
Humans have the ability to intervene in many processes of nature and it is time for humanity to intervene more positively to reduce the massiveness of the ‘factory shit’ which is the by product of the beautiful, valuable and diverse things humans produce for their well being and happiness. Humans are in a mad race towards the ultimate contentment and joy, which existed naturally in primordial times, and lost now through their own ideas of creating contentment and joy. Now, humans search for the elusive happiness through the myriad products they make, and by doing it they bring in more unhappiness. A time has come to look for ways of production that would not contribute to increasing unhappiness as all human efforts are geared towards making the world a happier and better place. If we are filling our backyards with all kinds of nasty things and keep our front gates clean and beautiful, sooner or later the backyard heap will overflow into the front gates. In the production of clothing too, the same is a valid hypothesis as the backyards are overflowing with wastes and pollution which will overflow into the front yards soon. As there is linearity in the supply chain of any product, including clothes, the methodology for reducing the massiveness of waste and pollution should begin from the first string in the supply chain. Interventions along the course of the chain could mitigate the impacts to some extent but it would not make the products completely free from negative impacts. Therefore, the end products of unclean technologies and production processes—both in terms of social and environmental implications—that humans use everyday carry an element of guilt and destruction merged in them that would not be visible.
Nature’s ‘Free Lunch’
Another aspect to be considered in any production process is the ability of nature to provide free lunch. Humans have survived and achieved progress, mainly banking on the free lunch of resources provided by nature. Human activities evolved around the free lunch of resources that are required for survival and progress, defined according to self-evolved norms. But, free lunch never presupposes gluttony. During the course of the last two millennia, the Earth witnessed extreme forms of exploitative gluttony of a small section of people, chasing the wild dream of contentment through high gear use of the free lunch of nature and through it depriving many others even the mere crumbs required for survival.
“Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites"
William Ruckelshaus, first US-EPA Administrator
These growing tensions between trade liberalisation and environmental protection are a reflection of the wider conflicts between the sustainability agenda and traditional ways of doing business. According to John Elkington, Chairman of SustainAbility, “increasingly, we think in terms of a `triple bottom’ line’, focusing on economic prosperity, environmental quality and—the element which business had tended to overlook—social justice.”
These are not just issues for major transnational corporations. More and more, large corporations are being forced by market and stakeholder pressures to pass the pressure down to their supply chains, to smaller suppliers and contractors, at home and abroad. To refuse the challenge of the ‘triple bottom line’ is to ‘risk extinction.’ To accept the challenge is to embark on a process, which could be both “intensely taxing and—potentially—highly rewarding.”
Destructiveness of Apparels and Flux Fashions
The high fashion and change-oriented garment sector is always on a course of flux in terms of product diversity. This diversity seeking has its constructive and destructive impacts on the society as well as the Earth. Whether we believe it or not, humans are still driven by the twin instincts to cover nakedness and to be naked. The drive to clad the body, and that too in a diverse manner, is an instinct that prompt humans to go for diverse clothes and fashions, and at the same time humans are driven by a competing instinct that pull them towards the ‘original position’ of ‘nothing to hide’.
While the instinct towards the ‘original position’ would not result in value addition and there is no economics in the ‘original position,’ we are constantly being preached to keep away from such instincts, mainly by terming it as sin, and drawn increasingly into the ‘non-original’ position of getting clothed up, at times barely, bordering on the ‘original position’ and at other times, head to toe as prescribed by the vagaries of nature or the society in which we survive. This diverse cladding has its downsides. As we run the human body factory by feeding it with diverse things of nature and return the effluents to the environment, our craving for clothing too is based on gathering a lot from the Earth, churning out a lot of wastes and delivering a lot of problems to the Earth and its inhabitants including ourselves.
It would be interesting to note how our instincts for diverse clothing, based on the fashion fluxes, interact and affect the elements and beings of the environment in diverse ways. While the human factory’s boiler (the stomach) is responsible for the extinction of Dodo, Passenger Pigeon, Himalayan Quail and Pink Headed Duck, the story of extinction of the New Zealand Huia and many other beautiful birds and animals of the world is directly connected to human instincts for diverse clothing and its fashion fluxes. Some great humans too lost their lives in the war of human fashions against the Earth and its beings.
Beginning with the campaign against killing of hapless animals for fashion feathers and furs in late 19th century, the efforts to make clothes free from massive environmental damage has travelled a long way to the present campaigns for environmental standards. The massive and high profile campaigns with slogans such as “original people wear fake furs” in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States and Europe were points of increasing awareness of environmental damage caused by clothing and fashions.
Fashion-conscious and alert to consumer trends, the textiles industry has been sensitive to intensifying international scrutiny of the life cycle of clothes-social and environmental impacts of growing, processing and using clothes. All this has had implications for trade, where developing countries play a critical role. Key initiatives include efforts to shift cotton production onto a more sustainable basis using organic and integrated pest management techniques, bans on the use of potentially harmful dyes in the manufacturing stage and the introduction of codes of conduct by major retailer groups to assure integrity at each stage of the chain. (Nick Robins and Sarah Roberts. www.iied.org)
Raising Environmental Standards
Manufacturing of garments can cause diverse environmental damage. Consumption of large quantities of water and generation of huge volumes of effluents, right from the point of cultivation of cotton and the manufacturing of synthetic base of artificial fibres, is a major cause of worry. The widespread felling of forest trees for making the base for rayon and the high use of chemicals in cotton cultivation are also issues at the base level of our clothing culture. Apart from polluting the surrounding, mainly water sources, industrial production of clothes can lead to chemical effects on the health of the large number of workers involved in the process of “removing our nakedness”. The ingredients used in the process of making the cloth from cotton or artificial fibres could chemically affect even those who put on the clothes.
From the point of cultivation of cotton and sourcing raw materials for artificial fibres, there is increasing concern about the potential environmental and health threats that would emerge from the processes of production. Growing awareness about the environmental impacts associated with intensive cotton production has led to a surge in demand for organic cotton. Immediate responses to the realities of the demand-side are an essential ingredient to remain in business and necessary for becoming more competitive in the market. Of course, there is much opposition to change existing production processes that are dangerous because of the investment risks and associated issues. But clean production mechanisms are put in place in a number of sectors, either through suo motto initiatives of the producers who are sensible or through statutory and/or public pressures. But still there is a war like situation between the old guards of end-of-pipe pollution control advocates and the advocates of clean development mechanisms (CDMs)/clean production mechanisms (CPMs).
Despite the highly visible international campaigns for sustainable development and clean development mechanisms during the last decade beginning with the Earth Summit (1992), the general pace of change seems to be slow though there are some remarkable achievements in specific sectors.
Moreover, the emergence of WTO in 1995 through the conclusion of GATT has resulted in international trade achieving much mileage compared to any other human engagement. The net impact of such precedence of trade over other human concerns is both positive and negative. For instance, the quota elimination achieved through WTO’s Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) as on January 1, 2005 naturally resulted in increase in trade and production of textiles, which provided a boom to the textile production economies such as India and China. Yet, there are concerns due to the general neglect of environmental dimension of trade within the WTO system. There is also increasing pressure applied by business groups for ‘freedom from environmental regulations’ along with the ‘free trade’ promoted by WTO. The conflict came out openly at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in 2002. There were widespread protests at the conference against the high intrusion of global business pressure groups in formulating policies and also against the attempt to delink trade from environmental concerns. The protests continued at global trade and economic summits held at Doha, Cancun and recently at Hong Kong.
For Optimum ‘Clean’ Levels
The argument for a free trade system fully free from environmental and social concerns was continuously voiced by business leaders during the last decade. It was proved to be going a step backward compared to Earth Summit which introduced firm commitments to change into a path of sustainable development. Industry groups were using pressures to get a global trade terrain completely free from all kinds of social and environmental concerns and regulations. On the other hand, there are global moves by concerned groups to introduce more and more voluntary regulations, through various codes of conducts and stakeholder pressures, for assuring social and environmental cleanliness of the products. The efforts such as MDGs and Global Compact by the UNO, though obtained firm commitments from global industry and trade groups, remain on an unsure hook, given the fact of sustained opposition to social and environmental commitments voiced by industry leaders at various international fora recently. A balance need to be searched and located because the industry can locate its own self-interest in observing standards and the civil society and consumers too can locate their own self-interest in making the industry to do so.
The efforts to achieve optimum ‘clean’ levels in the textile chain are mainly centred on the following key aspects:
1. Use of chemicals in cotton production and in the production of other fibres.
2. Use of chemicals in textile wet processing (dyeing, bleaching, printing, washing etc).
3. Use of high quantity of water both in textile wet processing and in the production of other fibres.
4. Use of high quantity of energy, from firewood and fossil fuels, in textile production processes.
It is a fact that large number of chemicals are used in the textile production chain, beginning with farming cotton and in the production of man-made fibres such as rayon (made mainly from various softwoods). The processing of raw materials, mainly pulping, dyeing, bleaching, printing, washing, stain removal etc also use high quantity of various chemicals.
Water, one of the basic elements for survival, is used in large quantities at various levels of the textile supply chain, beginning with high consumption of water for cotton cultivation and in pulping, bleaching, dyeing, stain removal, washing etc. A large quantity of chemicals and water flow into the natural systems such as rivers and ground water aquifers in the form of effluents with varied levels of toxicity achieved through chemical bondings that happened at the time of processing.
The huge volume of energy consumed, mainly non-renewable sources of energy, for textile processing also causes much worry. All along the supply chain, beginning from the farms and forests, there are widespread environmental and health impacts due to the huge quantity of chemicals and water consumed and converted into toxic effluents. The pollution load generated through textile processing has been a major cause of worry for both industrialized and non-industrialised societies. The acceleration of the shifting of production to low cost economies facilitated by the new global systems increase the urgency of the issue. At one level, it tends to increase socio-economic and political problems through promoting the sweatshop paradigm. At another level, it leads to further increase in the already dangerous toxic loads generated through obsolete production technologies in the developing countries. The only solace is that such production chains became the last straw for many millions to survive and jump onto the development ladder, which we should not forget in the avalanche of problems the supply chain created.
A silver lining in the generally sorrowful scenario is the increasing market for socially and environmentally clean products, especially the increasing market component of organic and clean products in the US and EU markets. It is worthy to note that a number of international retail brands in the textile sector have come together to increase their intake of organic products, including organic textiles. Individual brand initiatives and efforts through codes of conducts and compliance certifications are on the forward move to achieve certain levels of clean production in the textile sector. Initiatives following consumer pressures and those emanating from international commitments of national governments are emerging, though at a slow pace. Major brands of the developed markets are going out to launch partnerships with organisations and governments in production points to achieve certain levels of compliance with regard to social and environmental standards.
Environmental Reality: An Overview
The economic boom resulted from globalisation has been causing severe problems to many of the South Asian countries, including India. Rapid industrialisation of traditional, protective economies such as India and China, with a vigour unheard of till recently, has generated severe environmental problems. The sudden race to capture new markets with products made cheap through all kinds of violations of regulations or using loopholes or even utilizing the absence of regulations has led to many problems.
The cluster model of industrial development seen in the case of textiles, leather, paper and pulp manufacturing, sugar processing etc is particularly prone to cause severe environmental problems. The toxic load from these industrial clusters lead to serious contamination of surface and ground water sources and the surrounding soil, which in turn affect the livelihoods in the locality and downstream of the water course.
Majority of the industrial clusters function in small or medium scales with different levels of flexibility and disorganization but generates high employment and foreign exchange. This is especially true with regard to garment and leather production clusters. But, similar to labour compliance situation seen earlier, environmental standards compliance in these clusters are even lower than labour standards compliance.
It is true that environmental regulation dates back to early 1970s in India but enforcement agencies followed a lenient view towards industries due to the contributions they make to the nation’s employment and economic basket and also considering the low investment capacity of the entrepreneurs.
The impoverishment of the village communities due to destruction of water sources and soil has a positive impact for the industries as the people have to go for distress migration to centres of employment opportunities. Thus, the availability of cheap, migrant labour is assured. Most of the industrial clusters have grown overnight and became boiling points with remarkably low infrastructure and with inability to provide basic services to growing numbers of workers.
Tirupur is a classic case of this situation because civic authorities and government failed to foresee such development and they are very slow in addressing emerging issues. The snail paced government and local administration machinery are not equipped enough to meet the problems head on when they realised the problems of such uncontrolled and chaotic growth.
The Story of Noyyal
The lenient attitude of regulatory authorities and the snail-pace of government systems became backward pulling lever in the case of industries as they found it eminently convenient not to introduce environmental management technologies and continued with the old production processes that are not clean. The economy of remaining at that level was an added motivator not to change.
The drainage that flows through the centre of Tirupur town can reveal the environmental colour of Tirupur, with a constant flow of effluents in multicolour, mainly coming out from the dyeing and bleaching units. The drainage has a history but it is not of carrying the multicolour wastewater but of a river with clean water-this was River Noyyal, a tributary of the legendary Cauvery River. Noyyal provided the basis for the growth of Tirupur town, from time immemorial. Now also it sustains Tirupur, giving its life, by carrying the coloured waste of Tirupur boom. The story of Noyyal River, its transformation from a river to a waste carrying drainage is the story of Tirupur’s knitwear cluster’s entry into the world of multi-colour T-shirts and into the global fashion map. River Noyyal disappeared from the map of Tirupur, and in its place there is the drainage, which would also be made into a better drainage under the Cluster Development Programme, the work for which is going on.
Producing the clothes to cover our nakedness was never been a dangerous activity in the human story spread over many centuries, similar to the production of food. It was a clean production system. The later developments after the industrial revolution, which paved the technological base for large-scale production, resulted in the introduction of dangerous processes of production of food, clothes and other commodities used by humans. We killed the clean production systems and accepted large-scale production system under various pressures. Within a few centuries, since 17-18th centuries, humans have destroyed the Earth and its natural elements at a high level through unclean production and life patterns. Unable to stand the pressures, nature started reacting violently. Now, we are trying to get back to yet another cycle of clean production and clean life patterns, though the route is different as there is enough knowledge gathered over centuries compared to the era of blissfully ignorant primordial existence.
Toxicity of Textiles
The garment production process, beginning with cotton cultivation and harvesting in remote villages, ends up with the customer buying the fashion wears in some upmarket malls of the metropolitan cities around the world. Like food, no urban population is directly involved in producing the basic stuff, cotton, for removing the nakedness of the large urban population. The farmer, normally half starving and half naked, produces the food and the cotton for the clothes. At this level too, the production process was clean earlier. Industrialized agriculture and demands of forward links of the production chain forced the farmer also into the trap of unclean production. Large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides cause severe problems in the rural landscapes, as it impacts the basic survival resources like water, food and air. Now there is also a concerted move to get back to the old world agriculture, though the name given is a new one—organic farming, to assure clean raw material.
But, at present lion’s share of the cotton that enters the market is chemically grown. This is the main raw material that enters the knitwear industry in the form of yarn. The raw material carries a definite load of toxic substances accumulated in it from the farm. This chemical build up in the cotton is furthered through further chemical processes used in the production chain. The major points of chemical add up are the bleaching and dyeing processes of the knitwear industry. Though major part of toxic chemicals get washed out into rivers like Noyyal and other drains and ultimately end up in the sea, a minor level of toxicity would remain in the fabric in residual forms in any existing systems of modern production. It would be interesting to note that residues of fertilizers used in a remote cotton farm in the interiors of Tamil Nadu by an illitreate farmer, the residues of bleaching and dyeing chemicals used by a job contractor in an unclean alley of Tirupur, and the sweat of many poorly paid labourers of Tirupur are carried through the flashy fashion wears into the shoulder and buttocks of the most rich and powerful of the world. Yes; we can rightly say that the world is one village in that sense.
Though this study focuses on the CMT (cutting, making and trimming) processes, it would be interesting to note the backward linkages of the CMT process in terms of environmental issues as CMT by itself is a process that cause less environmental damage, except the chemical methods of stain removing using toxic substances such as CTC (carbon tetra chloride) and the wastes generated. As there is a global movement to phase out CTC, its effects can also be seen in Tirupur as a few companies observing high standards have already phased it out.
Venugopal G (Quality Assurance Officer, Textiles Committee and Cluster Development Agent, Tirupur) says:
As part of the global campaign to phase out CTC, a number of units in Tirupur, especially those with constant production contracts with a number of foreign brands, have already phased it out. And we are taking forward the campaign to make others also follow the phasing out.
Easwaramurthy N (Partner, Laurels Clothings, Tirupur) and his Consultant, Muruganandan (Top-Notch Fashions Pvt. Ltd, an international buying house based at Bangalore) says:
We don’t use CTC, but not yet obtained the phase out certificate from the Ozone Cell, Ministry of Environment and Forest, and would apply for the certificate soon.
Prakash B K (GM, Prem Durai Exports) said that they have already phased out CTC and obtained the required certificate from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
Material Flows
At present nearly 8000/10,000 knitwear related units are functioning in Tirupur. The textile wet processing units (bleaching, dyeing) are the major consumers of water as well as major contributors to pollution. The resource flows in each of the most important processes reveals the environmental load
of these processes, in terms of various resources consumed, wasted, and reused. According to the Resource Flow Analysis (RFA) conducted at Tirupur knitwear cluster in 1995 (Suren Erkman and Ramesh Ramaswamy, 2003) the following information is revealed. The present loads can be projected on the basis of the growth of the cluster. It has almost doubled in terms of industrial activity and population growth during the last decade (1995- 2005).
The knitting section, which used 1,60,265 tons of yarn produced 1,45,920 tons of fabric by using 20,140,000 kWh of electricity. Through this process, the following wastes enter the Municipal solid waste heap: 730 tons of yarn sweepings, 2,430 tons of paper and 8,755 tons of jute bags. In addition, 2,430 tons of plastics (cones) coming out as waste might be reused, and needles measuring 20 tons coming out would be re-melted and used.
In the Bleaching section, the entry load (1995) was 72,960 tons of cloth/year, 43,750,000 litres of water/per day, 1.56,000 kWh/year, 1,45,920 tons of firewood/year, 2,188 tons of caustic soda/year, 3,648 tons of bleaching powder/year, 18,240 tons of sulphuric acid/year and 182 tons of whiteners/year. This process produced 72,960 tons of bleached cloth and produced the following wastes: 43,750,000 litres waste water/day, 24,076 tons of reacted chemicals/year, 2,918 tons of warping/year and 14,592 tons of ash/year. Of this the wastewater, reacted chemicals and warping move into the public drain and the ash go into the municipal solid waste heap. In the dyeing process at Tirupur, 1995 figures are as follows: 72,960 tons of cloth/year, 43,75,000 litre of water/day, 1,560,000 kWh electricity/year, 72,960 tons firewood/year, 1678 tons of bleaching powder/year, 7296 tons of soda ash/year, 5,102 tons of sodium chloride/year, 1459tons/year, 2,188 tons/softener, 1,459 fixing oil/year and 7,296 tons/acid. This produced 72,960 tons of dyed cloth, and released the following wastes. Waste water: 43,75,000 litre/day, 2,918 tons warping, 12,509 tons reacted chemicals, 292 tons dyes, 437 tons softeners, 292 tons fixing oil, which moved into the drainage. In addition, 7,296 tons of ash moved into the Municipal solid waste heap.
At the next stage of calendaring the flows are as follows: 1,45,920 tons of cloth/year entered the process along with 2,630,000 litres of water/day, 5,230,000 kWh electricity/year and 2,18,880 tons of firewood/year. This generated 1,45,920 tons of calendared fabric/year and released 2,18,880 tons of ash into the Municipal solid waste heap. It is common knowledge that compared to other processes in the birth of garments from cotton to T-shirts, CMT (cutting, making and trimming) is relatively eco-friendly as it is a process of shaping up the cloth into apparel. Even then, there are certain hazardous
aspects to CMT such as chemical-based removal of stains, using highly toxic chemicals such as CTC.
A recent case study of Tirupur conducted by UNIDO observes:
One of the most significant challenges for the Tirupur textile industry today is water. Textile production, particularly dyeing and bleaching, can be water intensive and can generate large quantities of effluent. Tirupur is in a dry, water-scarce region, and the rapid expansion of the textile industry has taken place in an unplanned manner, with no associated development of supporting infrastructure or institutional capacity. As a result, the growth has led to the depletion of groundwater reserves and a serious deterioration in environmental quality of both surface and ground water. Typical water consumption in Tirupur is around 200 to 400 litres/kg of finished product, compared with the international norm of 120 to 150 litres/kg. The city does not have a reliable piped water supply, and private water suppliers extract ground water and supply it to the textile industry using tankers. Ground water in neighbouring areas has been decreasing and becoming contaminated. This has forced the tankers to travel even further distances to draw water. Lack of adequate water supply have inhibited growth and slowed down the flow of new investments.
Most of the bleaching and dyeing units in Tirupur are located in clusters along the banks of the River Noyyal and River Nallar, into which they were, until recently, discharging effluent. The two rivers are natural drainage courses that only carry water in the monsoon period. During the remainder of the year, they only carry industrial effluents that stagnate in the riverbeds and percolate into the groundwater. As a result, the groundwater around the cluster of bleaching and dyeing units is polluted to such a level that it is unfit for domestic, industrial and agricultural activities. Estimated wastewater generation from the nine industrial clusters in Tirupur is around 102 million litres per day. The bleaching and dyeing processes are the main causes of pollutants which include caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydro sulphate, hypochlorite and peroxides.
Typical characteristics of wastewater from bleaching and dyeing units in Tirupur
Source: Case Study of Tirupur, UNIDO
During 1981, there were only 68 textile processing units (bleaching, dyeing, calendaring) functioning in Tirupur. The number rapidly rose to 450 in 1991 and 866 in 1997. At present there around 800 dyeing units engaged in dyeing and/or bleaching processes. Majority of these units are small scale and most of them are job-workers. The annual rainfall in the area is low (~500 mm/year) and availability of surface water and ground water is very low. Textile processing industries purchase water from water supply contractors. Fuels cost of trucks for transporting water amounts to Rs 520 million/year. The daily discharge of industrial effluents to the Noyyal River is estimated at 80 million litres. It has resulted in the loss of ecological and bio-wealth, estimated to be more than Rs 500 million/year with regard to all stakeholders (farmers, local administration, industries etc).
Public Outrage
In 2002, there were intense protests against commercial exploitation of ground water from farm wells by the dyeing units of Tirupur:
Angry protests and road blocks put up last week by a section of residents and farmers against transport of ground water from agriculture wells in Mandapam area has unnerved the Tirupur dyeing houses, which rely on ground water supplies sourced from nearby villages for their textile processing. The current protests have been causing anxiety to the stand alone ‘job working’ processing units in Tirupur. They fear that if the problem persists their business would suffer, as export houses would seek the services of independent processing houses situated in Erode and other places. The Coimbatore district administration is also in a dilemma. They are duty bound to protect the drinking water needs of the villages and the public, but at the same time any action to prevent the dyeing units from using the ground water would harm the interests of the Tirupur knitwear industry (Business Line. www.blonnet.com)
The Orathupalayam Dam was constructed a decade ago for storage of rain water to improve agricultural production in the downstream areas of neighbouring districts. The dam reservoir has been totally contaminated due to effluents from the Tiirupur knitwear cluster, causing heavy damage to agriculture and other livelihoods of a large section of people in the neighbouring Erode and Karur districts.
The High Court of Chennai has recently ( June 2005) ordered the dyeing industries to pay Rs 60 million for the reclamation of Orathupalayam Dam, and also Rs1400 million as compensation to the farmers in the downstream areas of Noyyal river. The court further ordered the government (Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board: TNPCB) to take appropriate action to stop further pollution of the Noyyal river. The TNPCB, as a consequence, ordered the effluent discharging industries to immediately implement zero discharge effluent treatment systems. The closure was ordered following petitions filed by the Noyyal River Ayacut Protection Council, a local environment protection agency, and other NGOs seeking an end to discharge of effluents into the Noyyal River. The Court ordered reopening of 493 dyeing and bleaching units (of the 660 units ordered to be closed) after assurance concerning introduction of treatment systems.
The Court ordered reopening most of them after they furnished proof that they had paid 25 per cent of the cost of the effluent treatment plants to the government. The court constituted a three-member committee, headed by environmentalist and lawyer Mohan R., to monitor the setting up of the plants on a regular basis.
Annual utilization of water by the textile cluster of Tirupur is at present around 28.8 billion litres. This is around 0.1% of present total water potential and 1% of present water demand of Tamil Nadu state. Water is mainly sourced from open and borewells of surrounding areas, such as Avanashi, Palladam, Annur, Kangayam, and from many villages of the nearby Erode district. The exploitation of water from village open wells and through borewells has resulted in reduction in agriculture activities in these villages. As agriculture production provide only low income, the farmers stopped cultivation and started selling ground water from their wells, which, though provide a higher income at present, might lead to disastrous consequences in the near future.
Water Consumption Levels
Nearly 3000 trucks, each with approximate capacity of 10,000 litres/trip, are in service in Tirupur. They undertake approximately 8/10 trips daily. Efforts to bring water from Upper Bhavani reservoir to Tirupur as a measure to reduce the depletion of local water resources are ongoing. But, by the time the project reach completion, it would not be sufficient to meet the escalating demand for water, given the current rate of growth. The population of Tirupur too shoot up due to large scale inward-migration of labour to man the industrial positions.
Water is a critical resource in bleaching and dyeing as the quality of water affects the quality of dyeing and bleaching. The chemicals used by bleachers and dyers such as wetting agents, soda ash, caustic soda, peroxides, sodium hypochlorite, bleaching powder, common salt, acids, dye stuffs, soap oil and, fixing and finishing agents make the water highly toxic. Nearly 1,00,000 tonnes of salt and 6,600 tonnes of bleaching powder is used every year in Tirupur.
Nearly 80% of daily water consumption is met by water transported from outside. This was mixed with the locally available ground water to save water costs. As ground water has tendency to show higher TDS values (around 2500-3000 mg/L), using ground water for bleaching and dyeing process would lead to further increase of the TDS values of the effluent. It becomes difficult and costly to treat the effluent to attain the prescribed levels of TDS values for discharge, approved by the TNPCB.
TNPCB records show that nearly 80 million litres (mld) of effluent water is discharged daily into the Noyyal River by the dyeing and bleaching units of Tirupur, and nearly 3 million litres (mld) of municipal waste water also enter the river.
Out of the nearly 800 bleaching and dyeing units, 277 units have formed eight CETPs with a capacity of about 42.55 million litres per day. The CETPs are successful in reducing the colour of the waste water to the prescribed levels, but they fail to reduce the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentration to the prescribed limit of 2100 mg/L. It also indicate that good dyeing demands higher concentration of salt, and the present treatment procedures used in the CETPs are incapable of reducing the high salt load of the effluent water. The high TDS discharge into the Noyyal River, and its seepage into the ground water system in the downstream areas of Tirupur, Avanashi, Kangayam, Perundurai, Erode and Karur have made the ground water sources contaminated and unsuitable both for drinking and irrigation. As Noyyal is not a perennial river and fresh water flow is restricted to monsoon season, it also pollutes river Cauvery at the point of their confluence in Kodumudy.
The Orathupalayam dam was constructed in 1991 (cost: Rs16.46 crores) with reservoir area of 1049 acres. The objective was to provide irrigation water to an ayacut of 500 acres in Erode district and 9875 acres in Karur district. The present condition of Orathupalaym Dam is that it has turned into a storage tank for industrial effluent. A major problem is that the contaminated water would not be allowed to be released into Cauvery River and its storage lead to seepage and contamination of ground water sources around. The economic loss and social impacts of such loss in the farming community are not yet quantified properly.
It is essential that the knitwear cluster of Tirupur should grow to achieve the export target of US$ 50 billion by 2010. The potential for growth existing in terms of production facilities and labour is now let down by the environmental damage caused to the Noyyal River, ground water system, and agricultural production. The way out of the crisis is to effect facilities to clean up the effluent and promote reuse of treated waste water and also eliminate pollution through introduction of clean technologies that assure zero discharge. As environmental compliance has become a precondition for majority of export orders, adoption of clean production mechanisms is essential to assure sustainability of the Tirupur knitwear cluster.
Environmental Standards Compliance Levels
Environmental problems related to knitwear production are mainly from the wet processing activities while the other processes (CMT) results in low intensity environmental problems.
A recent study by Prakash Nelliyat of Madras School of Economics observes:
The continuous discharge of untreated effluents for more than a decade has accumulated in the soil, ground water, etc. at Tirupur and surroundings. During 1980 to 2000, the cumulated pollution load discharged by the Tirupur units, comes to 2.35 million tonnes (mt) of Total Dissolved Solids-TDS, 1.31 mt. of Chloride, 0.13 mt. of Sulphate, 0.098 mt. of Total Suspended Solids, 0.09mt. of Chemical Oxygen Demand, 0.03 mt. of Biological Oxygen Demand and 0.001 mt. of Oil and Grease. Rainfall (annual average of 617 mm) has only a marginal effect in reducing the severity of the impact in this region.
All ground water studies indicate that open wells and bore wells in and around Tirupur exhibit high levels of TDS (ranging 3000mg/l to 11,000 mg/l) and Chloride (ranging 2000 mg/l to 5000 mg/l) due to industrial pollution and these values are much higher than the prescribed levels for this region. The available groundwater in this region is not suitable for domestic, industrial or irrigation use. The surface water studies indicate that the Noyyal River, downstream reservoir (Orathupalayam) and irrigation tanks have been affected by industrial pollution and the surface water is unfit for domestic, irrigation or fisheries purpose. The soil quality study also indicated the pollution concentration and, in most of the areas, the soil is alkaline (pH >8.5) or tending to be alkaline (pH 8-8.5). The water is injurious (EC >3 mmhos/cm) to agriculture in an area of 146.3 sq. km. and critical (EC 1.1 to 3 mmhos/cm) in 218.3 sq.km. Hence crop productivity has declined substantially, which ultimately affects the welfare of farmers. The estimated overall damage cost in the agriculture sector is US $ 50 million. The municipality is bringing 32 mld of water from the neighbouring (Bhavani) basin for drinking water supply. In affected villages the Water Board has introduced special water supply schemes. Besides villagers are spending a lot of time and effort for fetching fresh water from distant places. The total damage cost in the drinking water sector is about US $ 23.8 million. The fisheries activities in the Noyyal River, tanks and reservoir have been affected. The recent fish mortality at Orathupalayam reservoir compelled the Fisheries Department to stop fish culture. US $ 0.15 million is the loss of value in the fishery sector. Besides, possibilities of toxicity effect in the available fish are also high and its consumption may lead to severe health problems.
The pollution problem in Tirupur has very much affected the textile processing units as well. Since the industrial wells are having only ‘coloured water’ they are transporting their major requirement of water (85%) through tankers from peripheral villages located 25-30 kms away from Tirupur. The overall cost incurred by the industry for purchasing the water is US$165 million. Besides, the continuous functioning of a “water market” leads to depletion of the water level in villages, which has affected the livelihood of the rural poor. On many occasions villagers have protested against the water transfer. Currently a mega water supply project is progressing under the Tirupur Area Development Corporation. The total cost of the project is estimated to be US $ 269 million and will be financed by both debt and equity from the consortium and government agencies. Through this scheme 185 mld of water is planned to be transferred to Tirupur (both industry and domestic) from River Cauvery, an inter-State controversial river in India. (River Cauvery has been a point of conflict between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala with regard to sharing of water, and even large scale violence and riots were witnessed in places like Bangalore a few years ago over the issue.) If this project succeeds, the industry needs to pay more than their current cost of water, which may lead to cost escalation of textile processing. Human health, bio-diversity (aquatic eco-system of rivers, tanks and reservoirs) and livestock are also affected by pollution to a great extent.
Environmental Standards
The environmental standards (derived from various international agreements, national statutes and international codes of conducts) to be followed in garment production may be summarised as follows:
1. The enterprise should comply with all applicable environmental rules, laws and regulations.
2. If there are no suitable domestic laws, the enterprise must meet the relevant international
standards introduced by international laws or agreements.
3. The enterprise should have an Environment Management System (EMS) and a disaster
management plan to deal with any environmental emergency.
4. The enterprise should dispose all wastes, by-products and hazardous wastes in an
environmentally responsible manner.
5. The enterprise should minimize waste and maximize recycling to protect and conserve
the natural environment and natural resources.
6. The enterprise should store all hazardous materials and chemicals in a well-ventilated
safe place away from the work area with appropriate labelling.
7. The enterprise should put up notices containing a list of all hazardous substance used
in the enterprise/workplace mentioning first aid applicable in case of accidents/
emergencies for the information of workers
8. The enterprise should have wastewater treatment plant with applicable national/international
standards, if the nature of processes in the enterprise so warrant.
Environmental Laws Applicable
India has well ordered system of environmental protection and related activities implemented through various agencies set up under various environmental enactments of the Central and State governments.
01. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1975, a national level legislation, provides for protection of water resources and for control and regulation of water pollution and related matters
02. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is established under this Act, and the States also set up State Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) according to state rules framed under this Act. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is the authority with jurisdiction over Tirupur.
03. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1982 and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, 1994, all national legislations, together provides for standards of air quality, regulation and control of air pollution in India. The CPCB and the State PCBs are the authorities to implement the Act and related rules and standards. Particular areas can be declared as air pollution control areas under the Act.
04. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 and related rules and regulations are the major legislation in India dealing with all aspects of environmental protection and conservation. Various authorities are put in place including the National Environmental Tribunal. In addition, States have also introduced various rules and regulations concerning environmental protection.
05. The Scheme on Labelling of Environment Friendly Products (ECOMARK), 1991, introduced by the Central government specifically deals with eco-marking of products that are declared environment friendly. This is applicable to the garment industry, and garments produced from organic sources and through environment friendly processes can obtain the eco-marking.
06. The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, introduced at the national level need to be followed by the municipal authorities while handling municipal solid waste (MSW). As Tirupur is a municipality, this rule is applicable.
07. The Recycled Plastics (Manufacture and Usage) Rules, 1999, deals with recycling of plastics, its manufacturing and use. As a lot of plastics are used in the garment industry for various purposes associated with production and marketing, these rules are applicable.
08. Prohibition on the Handling of Azodyes, 1997 has been introduced after the international campaign against use of azodyes in the garment industry. This specifically concerns the garment industry.
09. The Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, deals with hazardous wastes including chemical wastes.
10. Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, deals with noise pollution levels and its regulation and control, including noise pollution issues inside factories.
11. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 deals with liabilities in case of emergencies including industrial emergencies.
12. The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 deals with protection and conservation of wildlife of all forms, both flora and fauna.
13. Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, is concerned with conservation of forests and all matters related to forests including flora and fauna and commercial use of forest resources.
14. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 deals with protection and promotion of biological diversity in India and follows the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) forming part of the Agenda-21 (Earth Summit, 1992).
Compliance Situation
Eight common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) in Tirupur treat a part of the huge quantity of waste water from bleaching and dyeing units. In addition, the IETPs operated by individual units also take care of a part of the waste water. There are complaints that even after treatment the water contains heavy load of pollutants.
The Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board has its offices in Coimbatore and Tirupur and it is duty bound to monitor water pollution, and there are complaints that the Board is not effective in implementing the regulations.
Environmentalists feel that nearly 90 percent of the garment units flout one or other environmental regulation. Recently the Green Bench of the Madras High Court ordered closure of many units due to violation of environmental regulations.
Environmentalist and Writer, Subrabharathi Manian said that not even 5% of Tirupur garment industries are complying environmental regulations.
Tamil Nadu Green Movement (which also has some members from the garment sector) leaders say:
It is true that a segment of the Tirupur entrepreneurs are not aware of such regulations but those who are aware are not interested or the enforcement agencies are not acting properly. Of course, there are a few units, with continued contracts with some foreign firms, which follow at least minimum level of environmental standards. It is the duty of the industry and the government to clean up the Noyyal River instead of using it as an open drain for the wastewater. The condition of the river is a shame for the exporters and the people of Tirupur, and also it is a shame for the world’s leading brands who source from Tirupur and a big shame for the rich consumers who use the clothes made in Tirupur. The global garment giants who source products from Tirupur too are responsible for the pathetic condition of Noyyal River. They should be ready to use part of their huge profit to put the river back to its old status. Monitoring with regard to environmental standards is very slow in Tirupur, compared to labour standards.
(Excerpted from: Knitted Together: Multi-stakeholder Perspectives on Economic, Social and Environmental Issues in the Tirupur Garment Cluster by Latheef Kizhisseri and Pramod John. Published by Partners in Change, New Delhi and Solidaridad, Utrecht, 2006)