MODELLING SUSTAINABILITY First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

ABOUT STWI Secretariat: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) hosts the Sweden Textile Water Initiative (STWI).

Our members » United in their diversity, our members collaborate for common reform in the fashion and textiles industries. STWI is funded by members.

Network » STWI is grounded in the idea that fashion brands must follow common guidelines and cooperate in order to achieve sustainable water use.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

STWI has brought together Swedish leather and textile companies in collaboration with the specific aim of reducing water, energy and chemical use in their supply chains. Through dedicated dialogue between member companies, the SIWI and experts on industrial water use, created the first set of guidelines for sustainable water and waste water management in supply chains. Projects » STWI Projects is a public-private partnership between Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), SIWI, STWI Brands,and their suppliers and sub-suppliers. It is the operational arm of the STWI Network. The overall objective is to continually improve water efficiency in production processes for 160 textile and leather manufacturers in major production hubs: Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, and Turkey. Aims include: • Reducing environmental impact of factories • Building institutional capacities for improved industrial water governance • Raising the profile of water impacted by the textile industry in global processes • Creating International benchmarks for sustainable water use • Continuously upgrading our guidelines and increasing their international recognition

• • • • • • •

Acne Åhléns Björn Borg Didriksons Ellos Filippa K Fjällräven Gekås Gina Tricot Haglöfs Hemtex H&M Group IKEA Indiska Intersport KappAhl K&US Stockholm Lindex MQ NilsonGroup Odd Molly RNB Rudholm & Haak Snickers workwear

Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ How to Cite: Modelling Sustainability: First Global Report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative. SIWI & Sustainability Outlook, 2015. Cover photo: Frank Zhang, SIWI. Design: Elin Ingblom, SIWI.

• Stadium • Stockholms Läns Landsting • TPC Textile • WESC Supporting member: • Textilimportörerna Implementation partners: • Bangladesh: Engineering Resources International • India: cKinetics, Sustainability Outlook, Sustainable Business Leadershop Forum • China: Intertek Green Initiatives (ITS) • Ethiopia: Ethiopian Textile Industrial Development Institute (ETIDI), cKinetics, and ERI • Turkey: Escarus and cKinetics Global support: • cKinetics

CONTENT Contributors

4

Introduction

5

News from STWI projects

6

STWI’s global industry baselines and benchmarks for resource efficiency

9

Zero Liquid Discharge system: A future cost for the textile sector?

17

Policy outlook and developments in 2015

22

Policy shaping sustainability in China

26

Business model for collaboration between competitors to create win-win on resource efficiency

31

IKEA suppliers can lead the way in water management

34

Update on other market initiatives driving resource sustainability

36

Nominate suppliers for 2016

38

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CONTRIBUTORS This report is produced by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the Sustainability Outlook team at cKinetics. Both parties are engaged jointly in the Sweden Textile Water Initiative, benchmarking global developments in supplier chains on the initiative’s drive towards sustainable supply chains.

Sweden Textile Water Initiative » The Sweden Textile Water Initiative is a collaboration of 33 Swedish brands and SIWI, with a commitment to transforming water use in the textile and leather industry. The collaboration also aims to create opportunities for best practice application and innovation. www.stwi.se

SIWI » Founded in 1991, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) provides and promotes water wise solutions for sustainable development in five thematic areas: water governance, transboundary water management, climate change and water, the water-energy-food nexus, and water economics. SIWI hosts the secretariat of the Sweden Textile Water Initiative and manages the implementation of its global projects. Learn more at www.siwi.org.

Sustainability Outlook » Sustainability Outlook is a market intelligence, discovery and collaboration platform that facilitates sustainability-linked actions amongst businesses, policy makers and investors. Sustainability Outlook actively tracks and provides market insights in resource management with focus on policy, technology and finance, to work towards creating closed loop systems. www.sustainabilityoutlook.in

This report benefits from the financial support provided by the Swedish International Development Agency, Sida, to SIWI as part of the co-financing of STWI Projects’ implementation globally. www.sida.se

4 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the first edition of Modelling Sustainability: the first biannual global report from the Sweden Textile Water Initiative (STWI) Projects – the largest global public-private partnership in the field of sustainable textiles today. Textile manufacturing is amongst the largest industrial users of water and is poised for transformation. In order to inspire this transformation towards a water wise future, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and Sustainability Outlook have teamed up to move beyond anecdotes and share fact-based trends on how the textile industry is evolving in some key production centres, based on data and information gathered, analysed and collated from the Sweden Textile Water Initiative’s Global Projects. This first edition is based on information from two key sources: • Data obtained from the STWI Programme where we are closely working with 80+ factories in China, India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Turkey • Inputs from field practitioners and experts who are actively engaged in the STWI 2015 has seen some significant action at the policy level from the two largest BRICS: China and India. China’s push towards a circular economy was made concrete with the announcement of the Water 10 Action Plan, (which has several implications for textile sector that we examine in this issue). India has mandated “Zero Liquid Discharge” (ZLD) for several industries, including textiles, especially targeting factories in one of the key river basins (the Ganga basin). The policies in the two countries have common drivers: economic growth, sound water governance, and pollution prevention and reduction. Transformative plans were also presented in Ethiopia and Bangladesh in 2015 with the same drivers. While the enforcement of such advanced policies may face common challenges, the textile industry will have to be pro-active to minimize financial risks associated with decreasing fresh water availability and increased water pollution.

Before 2020 the industry will look significantly different to today’s: it will operate towards circular economies with water at its centre, thus ZLD is close to becoming a reality across production hubs. This edition showcases an example of how ZLD has been made a reality. In Tirupur, (in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India), factories are operating with very little water. Dyeing mills in this region use 6-15 litres per kg of production, compared to the STWI global average of around 100 litres per kg. However, the financial impact that has had on the final product is less than 10 euro-cents (per kg). This article outlines the steps manufacturers take towards short-term resource efficiency. Through the STWI programme, we have data from 80+ factories in four key manufacturing countries. This reports provides a glimpse of STWI’s global benchmark database, putting such high-level data in the public domain for the first time. Collaboration is a core value that goverened this report’s development. For this issue, we interviewed participants of STWI’s award-winning pilot SWAR, who provide insights into the practicalities of collaboration among competing brands and manufacturers on establishing a common learning platform. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions pertaining to this report, please do not hestitate to contact us.

Aparna Khadelwal Rami Abdelrahman Sustainability Outlook Programme Manager [email protected] STWI Projects, SIWI [email protected]

5 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

NEWS FROM STWI PROJECTS

STWI Projects are implemented in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, and Turkey by SIWI, Implementation partners, STWI brands, and their suppliers and sub-suppliers, with co-financing from Sida. www.stwi.se Preparations for STWI Projects in 2016 underway Following this year’s active engagement of 20 Swedish brands, and around 90 suppliers and sub-suppliers in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India and Turkey, the STWI Projects Management team at SIWI, is starting to lay down the foundation for broader and deeper engagement from 2016 onwards. Working together with a large pool of experts at cKinetics India/USA, Engineering Resources International – Bangladesh, Intertek Green Initiatives – China, and Escarus – Turkey, the team at SIWI is excited to be developing models that build on lessons learned from STWI Projects’ first year as a scaled-up project, to deepen the understanding of the value of water, and provide tools for factories to use it more sustainably and efficiently in production. SIWI will continue to build on the STWI Projects drivers of change: Collaboration between companies, management engagement, reliable data generation and monitoring, and creating business-friendly growth opportunities. SIWI presented its initial ideas for engagement at a two-day closed STWI Members meeting to be held at the IKEA Headquarters in Älmhult, Sweden, on the 28-29 September 2016.

Pilot SWAR wins Sweden’s first sustainability award

STWI’s successful pilot in India – a collaboration for efficiency in water consumption, energy and chemical use in the textile industry – won the prestigious 2015 Habit Fashion Award for Sustainability.

SWAR: Award-winning STWI pilot project » Sustainable Water Resources (SWAR) is a joint initiative between SIWI, Sida, Swedish fashion brands Indiska, KappAhl and Lindex, and their Indian suppliers and sub-suppliers. SWAR was honoured by the Habit jury for its impact in increasing efficient water, energy and chemical use at factory level. “SWAR piloted in densely-populated north-western India in 2013, where the groundwater situation is dire. Basin levels continue to drop at an alarming rate, and pollution continues to stagnate human development in the region. We are proud that SWAR was recognized by Habit for directly increasing the efficiency of water, energy and chemical use in textile production in a systematic, cost-efficient, and sustainable way,’’ said Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director, SIWI. Implemented in India with the support of cKinetics as local consultants, SWAR factories saved seven per cent of their total annual water use, 360 million litres. This amount equals the daily need of more than 3.5 million people. Through its parent network, STWI, the successful pilot programme has now scaled up across India and in China, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Ethiopia, expanding its impact to 120 factories supplying 20 major Swedish brands. “Water and energy are the most important resources for our business. Therefore, our biggest driver to join SWAR was water and energy conservation. Apart from this, the cultural change in the factory, resulting from SWAR also helped us to continue our water and energy conservation activities,” said Anuj Batra of Bee K Bee Prints, one of the factories participating in the programme. “SWAR has enabled us to over-perform on almost all social, environmental and business metrics that we identified at the project start. In addition, it provided clear evidence and data through exact measurements of water consumption meters, project implementation sheets for each implemented projects, and testimonials provided by the factories. This kind of accurate intelligence is often very hard to secure when working across industry borders,” Indiska, Lindex and KappAhl said in a joint statement. The SWAR initiative puts the value of water at the heart of resource efficiency and sustainable development solutions. The approach combines achieving measurable

6 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

Photo: iStock

SWAR named as GLASA finalist

SWAR was named as one of five finalists for the prestigious 2015 Global Leadership Award in Sustainable Apparel (GLASA). The GLASA network identifies an important sustainability topic to frame every year. The theme chosen for 2015 was water. The award is designed to identify the most promising leadership and practices in the chosen area and in 2015, GLASA produced a State of the Apparel Sector Report focused on water. The GLASA jury is comprised of leaders from Nordic industry and Sustainability Networks such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Danish Fashion Institute, SEB and the Association of Swedish Fashion Brands. The GLASA process is co-ordinated by the Sustainable Fashion Academy (SFA), a not-for-financial-profit organization. The final award was announced at a global symposium and award ceremony on Thursday 27 August in conjunction with the 2015 World Water Week in Stockholm. results with building capacities and empowering people at brand headquarters, factory, and institutional levels. It is a market-¬driven approach that creates demand for sustainable water use in production, based on real risk mitigation, and supplies management solutions to meet that demand. “We are honoured to be awarded this significant prize and hope that sharing our success story can inspire others to enter into similar collaborations. The co-operation between Sida, SIWI and KappAhl, Lindex, and Indiska achieved substantial results in both water and chemical savings and was a winning formula within itself,” says Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director General of Sida. Ethiopia: STWI Projects implementation started in October 2015 » STWI started implementing its capacity building projects in Ethiopia in October 2015, to train suppliers and sub-suppliers to Swedish brands in efficient resource management and environmental management systems, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Textile Industrial Development Institute (ETIDI), and Swedish brand H&M. Ethiopia is the fifth country of implementation following Bangladesh, China, India, and Turkey. Project implementation in Ethiopia follows inception and planning trips that were conducted by project partners to visit and recruit factories, meet with local stakeholders, and get a better sense of the capacity needs of the industry. SIWI, tasked as the STWI Projects

overall management partner, will be bringing experts from different implementation countries to cater for the needs of Ethiopian factories. Stay up to date with this project at www.stwi.se. STWI brands connected to the online result tracking system »Brands participating in STWI Projects have recently received log-ins to the cKinetics’ “ComMiT” resource and result monitoring system. Each brand view contains overall performance indicators of all of their own participating suppliers and sub-suppliers in each production country. This system enables benchmarking between different countries, different factories within the same country, and overall project performance averages. The system provides live, accurate data, providing a global overview of factory-floor based developments. STWI presented at the European Commission’s Conference on development aid » SIWI Director for the Swedish Water House, Katarina Veem, presented the results of SWAR, the STWI pilot project at the European Development Days, the European Commission’s conference for development and aid, held in Brussels, last June. She provided a suggestion for scalable, co-operative models developed by the member brands and SIWI for European actors as part of a programme entitled Responsible Management of Supply Chains: The Case of the Garment Sector. STWI Projects’ governance component connecting with research partners » SIWI Programme Manager, Water, Energy and Food, Dr Phillia Restiani, is leading the STWI Project’s governance component, together with the STWI team consisting of Frank Zhang, Harsh Sheth and Rami Abdelrahman, to identify research partners in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, and India to contribute to SIWI’s research over regulatory and governance risks in production countries. The research will be carried out throughout 2016 and 2017 in each of the STWI Projects implementation countries. The aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive, scientifically objective, understanding of risks associated with industrial water governance between the different countries, taking into account physical water risks, and risks related to capacities, technology availability. Learn more at: www.stwi.se/projects STWI presented at World Water Week in Stockholm » As part of a session entitled “New paradigm: incentivizing improvements in low and middle income countries”, STWI presented its drivers for change that have been proven successful in different production countries, working with suppliers and sub-suppliers to Swedish brands. The session provided an overview of water risks related to production demands globally, extraction as well as pollution, cross-fitting this with the development agenda in selected geographies, and concluding with textile specific examples. The conveners, namely STWI, H&M, Levi’s, and GAP have jointly agreed on specific challenge issues/topics that were addressed in the

7 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

session. For example: the links between natural resource use-production, (which ultimately is price-driven), and development agendas; the role of regulation – improving or limiting; new trends that are seeing the industry in middle-income countries moving to lower income countries; and technology and good management practices for keeping costs low in middle income countries. A thorough discussion was facilitated by SIWI on the different incentives for companies to invest in technology and improve their business practices beyond compliance. For more information on the session: programme.worldwaterweek.org/event/5020 On the SIWI Sofa at World Water Week (webcasted) » The Swedish Sustainability model for the Textile and Leather industries was discussed at the World Water Week on the “SIWI Sofa”. The discussion was filmed and focused on the fact that too few fashion brands appreciate the value of actively working to address water risks; let alone see the lost opportunities by failing to do so. Even for the most progressive corporates, water-related risks are exacerbated by weak compliance, arbitrary enforcement of national laws in production countries and corruption in the public sector.

Speakers: • Eva Kindgren de Boer, CSR and Quality Manager, KappAhl • Sara Winroth, Sustainability Manager, Lindex • Harsh Sheth, Programme Manager, SIWI The webcast can be found here: siwi-mediahub.creo.tv

8 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

Photo: iStock

Dedicated to enabling a world with clean water and sustainable textile and leather industries, STWI has a solution. By measuring the value of water in production processes and producing reliable, comparable data, a better understanding of the impact on water quality and quantity can be seen and acted upon.

STWI’S GLOBAL INDUSTRY BASELINES AND BENCHMARKS FOR RESOURCE EFFICIENCY Contributors: Susmita Kamath, Senior Associate, cKinetics and Rami Abdelrahman, Programme Manager, SIWI

A ground-up, global view of the textile resource efficiency landscape » STWI launched its global programme in early 2015 to build capacities for suppliers and sub-suppliers of 20 Swedish brands in Bangladesh, China, India, Turkey, and Ethiopia. In this article, we present consolidated baseline analysis on resource efficiency parameters established at around 100 factories. The information below has been collated by consultants engaged by SIWI as part of the STWI programme, and collated by cKinetics. In order to produce this data, baseline assessments have been carried out at each factory by a team of water, energy and chemical experts, following pre-assessments conducted by the factories, and verification through measurement equipment installed or used at each factory.

Water

Electricity

Thermal

The data provided here is drawn from a mix of wetprocessing facilities, garment manufacturers and denim laundries in Bangladesh, China, India, and Turkey. A few of these are leather processing and carpet manufacturers. Ethiopia data has not been fully connected and analysed at the time of writing. Top 10 interventions » We analysed the most commonly recommended suggestions suggested by STWI consultants across factories to understand the most commonly seen opportunity areas. (*Figures in brackets represent the percentage of overall projects for which the intervention has been recommended.)

Chemical

Description (*%)

Average one time investment (€)

Annual recurring savings (€)

ROI

Payback

Indicative projects recommended

Efficient lighting (8%)

4,000

3,200

60% after 2 years

15 months

Installation of LED/T5 lights, rearrangement of lighting for optimization, Installation of lighting sensors, Installation of sun tunnels

Boiler operation optimization (8%)

5,000

6,400

28% same year

9 months

Control of boiler blowdown, tuning of burner inside boiler, heat recovery from boiler exhaust gases, installation of air preheater

Plumbing optimization (4%)

290

300

3.5% same year

~1 year

Replacement of ordinary taps with push taps, Installation of tap aerator diffuser, Installation of foot pedal for taps, lowering of water pressure in pipeline

Insulation of thermal utilities (4%)

800

2,400

200% same year

4 months

Insulation of hot water and steam pipelines, condensate tank, valves, boiler feed water tank, heat exchangers

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Description (*%)

Average one time investment (€)

Annual recurring savings (€)

ROI

Payback

Indicative projects recommended

Restricted chemicals management (4%)

Not quantified

Not quantified

N/A

Regular checking and strengthening of Restricted Substance List and Material Safety Data Sheets

Measurement systems (4%)

Not quantified

Not quantified

N/A

Sub-metering of water and electricity, Measurement of fuel consumption, Measurement of water/energy/ chemical per unit of production

Compressed air optimization (3%)

730

5,800

695% same year

1.5 months

Reduction of pressure setting of compressor, Usage of air nozzles instead of open pipes, Relocation of air feeders, Maintenance of compressed air filters

Efficient motors (3%)

5,700

6,000

5.3% same year

11 months

Usage of direct drive motors for sewing machines and other equipment

Installing Variable Frequency Drives (3%)

6,300

12,000

90.5% same year

6 months

Installation of variable frequency drive on compressors, blowers of printing machines, fans of boilers, washing and drying machines

Waste heat recovery (2%)

28,000

14,300

580% third year

24 months

Heat recovery from compressors, stenters, exhaust of dryers, ovens, etc.

Typical interventions recommended across different geographies » (Figures in brackets below represent the percentage of overall projects in a given region where intervention has been recommended.)

Water

Electricity

Thermal

Chemical

Bangladesh

Reuse of process water (28%) Water trigger nozzle (28%) Recycling of ETP discharge (20%) Process optimization (20%)

VFD installation (32%) Efficient lighting (26%) Air trigger nozzle (21%)

Optimization of boiler operation (22%) Insulation of thermal utilities (16%) Maintenance of steam traps (14%)

Enzymatic pretreatment (44%) Recovery of salt (33%)

China

Improvement in awareness (16%) One bath method (13%) EMS implementation (13%) Measrement systems (13%)

Efficient lighting (29%) Efficient motors (14%) Up-gradation of utilities (14%)

Waste heat recovery (24%) Condensate recovery system (14%) Insulation of process equipment (14%)

RSL and MSDS management (31%) Housekeeping (22%) Prevention of health hazards (13%)

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Water

Electricity

Thermal

Chemical

India

Measurement systems (21%) Reuse of ETP discharge (14%) Optimization of domestic plumbing (11%) Reuse of STP discharge (9%)

Efficient lighting (32%) Efficient motors (17%) VFD installation (11%) Optimization of compressed air (10%)

Optimization of boiler operation (37%) Insulation of thermal utilities (12%) Waste heat recovery (12%)

RSL and MSDS management (61%) Recovery of chemicals from baths (11%)

Turkey

Optimization of domestic plumbing (35%) Measurement systems (19%) Free water delivery test (12%)

Efficient lighting (23%) Optimization of compressed air (15%) Efficient switching methods (8%) Measurement systems (7%)

Optimization of boiler operation (38%) Insulation of thermal utilities (23%) Measurement systems (13%)

Optimization of process (56%) Up-gradation of process machinery (28%)

Areas where interventions have been recommended across STWI Projects-2015

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Factories in Turkey and China are relatively more automated in their energy operations – making them generally more efficient than other geographies. A quick glimpse of the above results clearly shows that there are virtually the same opportunities for water saving project implementation across the four different countries. Such opportunities are, however, still greatest in China and Turkey where production is relatively more automated and less labour-intensive than in India and Bangladesh. This conclusion is supported by the following indicators:

Key performance indicators for wet processing units » In order to benchmark factories’ resource efficiency across different geographies, certain “key performance indicators” were introduced, and adjusted jointly by SIWI, STWI Consultants and STWI brands. The following KPIs have considered various limitations associated with differences between the production of different products.

KPIs for fresh water consumption and energy consumption per kg of production show that wet-processing in Turkey and China are relatively more efficient, primarily due to more automated and less-estimated on their energy-intensive water operations, even considering differences between the different provinces in China.

and 15 litres per kilogram. This is largely due to the enforcement of ZLD in the state of Tamil Nadu. The higher energy consumption of the Tirupur factories should be considered in conjunction with their low water use because a significant portion of their thermal energy is spent on ZLD.

However, one deviation is the dyeing factories of Tiripur in India. All Tirupur dyeing factories now use Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), making their fresh water use extremely efficient. They recycle up to 92 per cent of their water, and have water consumption between five

However, China and other states in India will eventually catch up as ZLD is enforced in highly industrial provinces. This report provides a more comprehensive overview of ZLD in practice and associated policy developments in other sections.

All Tirupur dyeing factories use Zero Liquid Discharge, making their fresh water use extremely efficient. 12 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

While the median of most regions is similar, the variation in each region implies scope to work on chemical management. This also appears correspondingly from the projects that have been recommended. Data from Bangladesh was not yet analysed in full at the time of writing.

Different countries show different levels of maturity – largely linked to (a) their level of automation; and (b) the cost of resource access.

STWI assesses the best management practices availability at factories, and to that extent developed an assessment tool analysing 120 questions covering various areas of assessment within a facility such as water and waste water management, electrical utilities, energy management, chemical management, thermal utilities, and solid waste management. While factories in the different countries show different levels of maturity – largely linked to (a) their level of automation; and (b) the cost of resource access, it is interesting to conclude that the availability of best-management practices at a facility does not immediately reflect on the KPI performance of that facility. A good facility would have the “right” management practices combined with using

“right” materials, and the “right” process technology. The next chapter covers the three rights in particular to water efficiency, pollution prevention and wastewater. Factories’ performance according to STWI guidelines » SIWI, the STWI brands, and a number of consultants developed the STWI guidelines in 2010. They were designed to help factories apply optimal technologies, management practices and materials in order to improve water efficiency, waste water management, and prevent pollution. The guidelines were updated with the help of cKinetics, following practical application in the SWAR programme. A tool to evaluate factories was developed. The results shown below are from the STWI assessments carried out by STWI consultants in each of the implementations.

13 | Modelling sustainability – First global report from Sweden Textile Water Initiative Projects

Factories in the Tirupur region emerge as clear leaders in wastewater management since they have had to implement ZLD. These guidelines are meant to enable manufacturers to navigate a journey that seeks to use water sustainably. Compliance is a bare minimum requirement, and the aim is to drive water stewardship. The three levels of the guidelines:

other applicable standards, suppliers should adhere to the higher or more stringent requirements. Level 2 Improver: a factory’s environmental performance has surpassed legal requirements, and is working methodically with water and pollution prevention action plans.

Level 1 Minimum: is the minimum acceptable level for water management, which means that the supplier complies with legislation and has a general awareness of water issues. This is the first step towards sustainable water management. Where there are differences between the provisions of the guidelines and national laws or

Level 3 Achiever: the supplier is a leader in the field of sustainable water usage in the textile/leather industry and uses Best Available Techniques (BAT) for reducing water use, re-using water and phasing out hazardous chemicals.

It is clear that China and India lead in water efficiency measures, driven by higher efficiencies in certain states/ provinces (i.e. Tirpur). The Chinese government has tightened restrictions on water consumption in recent times to solve the resource scarcity issue and to reduce pollution. The Indian units are from the Tirupur region where water efficiency is a must owing to higher water costs.

Programme design construct for STWI 2015

Turkey and India emerge as leaders for water pollution management. In Turkey this is a consequence of good chemical management, and in India, (Tirupur), it is a must, since all the chemicals are recycled or are confined within factory premises.

Goals for 2015 for wet processing » Following baseline establishment at the various STWI factories in all countries, the STWI consultants and the factories jointly agreed on certain goals to be achieved throughout 2015. Following is an indicative outlook of the potential impact that the different regions are planning for STWI 2015. The goals on resource reduction range between two and five per cent of resources saved in the coming months. The next edition of this report will provide results against both the baselines and KPIs, as per the following:

In wastewater management, factories in the Tirupur region once again emerge as clear leaders owing to mandatory zero liquid discharge policy by local government.

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Data from China is being collated at the time of writing and will be provided in upcoming updates. However, an initial assessment of the potential in China finds that due to scale, fewer projects in China can achieve greater results, irrespective of the investment.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Bangladesh factories in the programme have the highest amount of resource savings for every euro invested. A large part of this is due to the higher number of low hanging fruit that exists, (as indicated by the KPIs). The potential of factories in Turkey to save electricity (kWh) per euro invested is higher than factories in India, because India has a high number of cut-sew-pack factories. These generally consume less energy and consequently have less impact for every euro invested.

Bangladeshi factories have the highest amount of resource savings for every Euro invested.

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ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE SYSTEM: A FUTURE COST FOR THE TEXTILE SECTOR? Contributor: Anshul Chawla, Senior Associate, cKinetics

Synopsis: In order to meet the continued growth of the textile sector, water demand is going to increase. However, with a multitude of competing uses of water, where water is required for food, drinking and other more basic purposes, little would remain for the textile sector. Policy makers in India are aware of this and are setting Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) goals for the textile sector, especially for wet processing. With every kilogram of fabric needing about 100 litres of water, this means that in future, the industry would have to absorb additional costs of between Rupees 15-20 per kg (€ 0.2-0.3 per kg). While this may seem high for wet processing units representing 12-18 per cent of their cost, it represents a relatively small part, (