Textile Industry’s Damaging Consequences on Environmental Sustainability
The textile industry is one of the world’s most dominant and oldest industries, and is widespread in different countries. That has gone through some sort of variety and development within the industry practices. We can look upon the “Spinning Jenny”, a hand-powered spinning machine patented by James Hargreaves. It is one of the key aspects during the industrialization era since it reduced the labor demands
As well as minimized the overheard costs thus increasing the production and availability of textile. These major technological improvements influenced industries’ transitions of small hand-made shops into big factories. The textile industry is undetachable from the environmental and social footprints on our planet. The textile industry, alongside mobility are the social needs driving the largest carbon footprints. The processes of materials extraction, sourcing, and production placement are mostly disposable within the first year of use. The entire industry system operates based on the assumption that there will be an endless availability of easily accessible and high-quality fossil fuels. Therefore, there will be damaging consequences towards the environmental sustainability.
An example of the environmental impacts of the textile industry can be seen in the Citarum River,
labeled as the world’s dirtiest river by the Asian Development Bank. Approximately 1000 textile factories were responsible for dumping toxic waste into the river. Based on the report made by Greenpeace, the textile industry was to blame for dumping almost 68% pollution along the river. Many people who live along the Citarum were deeply affected because they heavily relied on the water for drinking, bathing, and growing food. Most of them have complained about a variety of illnesses such as irritation, itchiness, white patches, and impetigo. The large concentrations of heavy metals found in the water put people at risk of organ damage, cancer, and death. Up to 60% of the fish in the Citarum have died, jeopardizing the inhabitants’ nutrition and sustenance.
There are some efforts made by the government to cut this prolonged cycle of environmental unsustainability, such as a lawsuit filed by the Environment and Forestry Ministry towards the company for its mismanagement in processing the hazardous and toxic waste. The Indonesian government also established a seven-year-long program to make the Citarum’s water drinkable by 2025. The efforts that have been made by the government are aligned with SDG 12 framework which aims at a profound business transformation holistically analyzing and acting upon consumption and production patterns.
By: Diva, Alya Rachma
READING TAB
https://www.fabricoftheworld.com/post/citarum-river-is-polluted-by-factories-that-make-your-clothes
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