Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine February Issue 2019 | Page 58

SUSTAINABLE BD TO ADVERTISE GOING TO A GOOD EVENT? Contact Rani Mahendru [phone] (512) [email protected] Send your industry gossip, photos and news to [email protected] Rajshahi University develops eco-friendly textile technology In a positive development which would not only reduce environmental pollution but also cut costs in terms of savings in energy and water in textile manufacturing, a Professor of Rajshahi University’s Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has recently developed an eco-friendly textile technology, which is expected to play a key role in reducing environmental pollution by the textile industry. “The technology will play a very positive role in textile pre- treatment to significantly reduce environmental pollution and also the costs in terms of savings in energy, water and effluent treatment. The textile industries at present consume twice the volume of water consumed by the entire population of Dhaka city. Furthermore, the textile pre-treatment process requires a high-energy input and generates a large amount of biochemical and chemical oxygen. The proposed technology will overcome the above shortcomings significantly,” underlined Dr. Mohammad Taufiq Alam, developer of the technology. The technology has reportedly been developed under an industry- university collaborative sub-project of Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) and is being implemented by the Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Rajshahi University. Meanwhile, Dr Alam has reportedly filed a provisional patent application for the invention with the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks under the Ministry of Industries. Workplace deaths in B'desh RMG sector halves in 2018 As we step into 2019, here’s a piece of positive development from Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry. As per a Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation report, workplace deaths in the country’s apparel industry have been registered at 28 in 2018, from what was 52 the year before! “Cautiousness on safety issues rose in the garment sector only so that it brings a result in this sector. But it is still neglected by the other sectors,” said AR Chowdhury Repon, Executive Director, Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation. Chowdhury further stated that the Government should focus on workplaces in other sectors as well while suggesting bringing in all injured workers under a Government rehabilitation programme, besides calling for providing safety gears to the workers. Conducting regular inspections of boilers, forming specialised 58 Apparel Online Bangladesh | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.apparelresources.com doctors’ chambers in hospitals and providing financial assistance to victims were some amongst the recommendations made by the Foundation to bring down the casualties further. As per the report, at least 898 workers were killed and 341 injured across the country in 2018 while in 2017, it was 1,242 and 371 respectively, which further maintained that of the total number of deaths in 2018, 157 were in the formal sectors while the rest were in the informal sector. The highest 281 was in the transport sector while two took place in tannery.