58 factories see 126pc improvement in environmental performance

Industry Desk: The closing ceremony Programme for Improvement of Environmental Performance of Factories (PIE) took place on the 19th of February at Uttara Club, Dhaka. GIZ and Reed Consultancy, Bangladesh arranged the event to acknowledge the extraordinary commitment towards environmental performance and chemical management improvement of the 58 participating textile and shoe manufacturing factories of Bangladesh.
In the year-long programme, the factories achieved on average 126% improvement in their performance through participation in tutor-guided e-learning training Resource Efficient Management of Chemicals (e-RMEC) and onsite support from experts. Factories are now better prepared to implement chemical risk control for occupational safety as well as streamline chemical purchasing practices.
At the event, Gundolf Klaehn, Head of Environment, GIZ Textile Asia, Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin Shiyak, Head of the Department of Dyes and Chemical Engineering at Bangladesh University of Textiles, and the Team Leader of the PIE project, Mohammad Abdullah Yousuf Khan, Advisor- Environmental Policy and Resource Efficiency, GIZ handed over the certificates of completion of the PIE to the representatives from the factories.
In the event, Gundolf Klaehn, Head of Environment, GIZ Textile Asia, said, “The German government has commissioned us to formulate the indicator of achieving 10% improvement in the environmental scoring system…the average results are really fantastic and for that, I’d like to thank you all.” In his speech, he also acknowledged their cooperating partner Reed Consultancy, Bangladesh for their support, and fruitful and successful cooperation.
Programme for Improvement of Environmental Performance of Factories (PIE) is designed as a part of the GIZ FABRIC project, which worked on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
GIZ commissioned Reed Consultancy to implement the PIE programme for capacity development and consultancy support to improve the sustainability performance of the factories in the textile and garment industry in Bangladesh. The programme covered 58 (fifty-eight) factories, including knit dyeing, woven dyeing, denim, washing, printing, and footwear.
In the PIE programme, the consultant team worked on the development of the environmental performance of the factories by assessing the baseline, capacity building, and advisory services. To measure the baseline condition of each factory they used a similar approach to the Higg FEM 3.0 assessment. The idea was to improve environmental performance with a documented procedure that will also assist factories to report their performance on the Higg platform.
The team used their own assessment matrix with seven different components like Higg FEM 3.0. Throughout the programme, factories received numerous supports, such as baseline verification, capacity building, implementation support, and final verification services. In this journey, three participants from each factory were trained on the chemical management system through the guided online platform, ‘atingi’ to master the chemical management system and practice in the factory.
Dr. Mohammad Abbas Uddin Shiyak gave a PIE closing presentation illustrating its background, methodology, and key improvements. In his speech, he acknowledged GIZ, FABRIC Asia, the brands, the consultant team, and all the factories included in the PIE project.