Apparel Online India Magazine April 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 17

SUSTAINABILITY
0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%
China
28.21%
USA
15.99%
India
6.24%
Russia
Japan
Germany
4.53%
3.67%
2.23%
Korea 1.75%
Iran 1.72%
Canada 1.71%
Saudi Arabia 1.56%
Garment and footwear industry workers are likely to get a
minimum wage of US $ 250 a month by 2023, said Prime Minister
Hun Sen, who was in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district to meet
thousands of garment workers. Workers associated with garment
and footwear factories in Cambodia earned US $ 153 monthly in
2017; while their current pay is US $ 170, which is likely to go up
to US $ 200 including other benefits. “Monthly wage offered in
Cambodia is higher than Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar,
Indonesia, Laos and Pakistan,” said the PM of Cambodia, which
currently has 1,100 garment and footwear factories.
Share of total CO 2 Emission (Source: Statista, Germanwatch): India has the world’s third highest level of CO 2 emissions
Almost a decade back, Cambodia had only 64 factories which
offered employment to more than 80,000 workers who used to
get just US $ 40 wage monthly. However, the wage hike and other
political issues in the country can make factories shift their base
from Cambodia to other countries. This will eventually result in
a loss of US $ 40 million a year. Kaing Monika, Deputy Secretary-
General, Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia
(GMAV), said, “I’m afraid we would price ourselves out, unless
we could continue to maintain smooth and harmonious industrial
relations between the management and the workers together
with upgraded skills and competency as well as move up the
value chain of our products.”
to extract groundwater and
prepare it independently. To obtain
approximately 16 million litres of
water required each month, up to
now three times that amount of
groundwater needs to be pumped
and filtered. The team was not
content to accept this situation, nor
the accompanying large volumes
of industrial wastewater and
the harmful production residues
it contained.
To begin with, the team comprising
of scientists and employees
collected a variety of water samples.
After extensive laboratory tests,
they developed a new and efficient
technology called the Advanced
Water Filtration Process. This is a
multi-stage process composed of a
primary sedimentation basin and a
reactor. The first task is to prepare
the groundwater for first-time
use. A total of five steps are now
required to derive a clear liquid
from the unfiltered groundwater.
The groundwater has a temperature
of 25 degrees Celsius and needs
to be heated up for the production
process. After being used for
production, it is collected again,
cleaned and then fed back into
the production cycle. As it is
already at the necessary operating
temperature, no further energy
is needed to heat it, which in turn
conserves resources.
Residues in the wastewater
generated during the production
process are completely removed
and collected. The main consumer
of these solids is the cement
industry, which uses them as
Cambodian workers
likely to get US
$ 250 monthly wage
by 2023
Sivasailam Gunasekaran, Managing Director,
Freudenberg Performance Materials, India
Fire breaks out in
Vietnamese factory
“Within half a year,
we were able to
save 5,00,000 litres
of water. That may
not sound like
much, but it’s an
important start.”
fuel. “To date, a process of this
nature is unique among interlining
production companies in India,”
said Sivasailam. He added, “Within
half a year, we were able to save
5,00,000 litres of water. That may
not sound like much, but it’s an
important start .” Sivasailam is
convinced that sustainability is
increasingly becoming an incentive
and a measure of the value of
products in India too. His team is
passionately working on other ideas
to further promote environmental
protection at the site.
A major fire ripped through a garment unit in Vietnam, causing
serious damage. Although no casualties were reported, the
factory seems to have incurred heavy damage despite several
firefighters succeeding in dousing the flames. Once the
investigation process is completed, the cause of the mishap
can be ascertained. The findings can help evaluate the safety
measures undertaken. It is to be noted here that unlike many
other garment hubs, there has hardly been any incident of fire
mishap in Vietnam in recent times. While talking about the
unfortunate mishap, Lê Anh Tân, who is the Vice Chairman
at Vĩnh Yên City’s People’s Committee said that the blaze
was brought under control, but all the products housed in the
2 factories having roof of corrugated iron have been completely
destroyed. The fire started at the No. 2 factory of Vina Korea Co.
Ltd. (industrial zone of Khai Quang) located in the province of
Vĩnh Phúc. No official figures of damages, however, have been
released. The South Korea-based garment factory has been
operational in Vietnam for over 15 years now and excels in
manufacturing textile products of advanced quality that are good
for export. It is worth noting here that the factories of Vina Korea
Co. Ltd. have been built over an area that exceeds 6.3 hectares
and have employed more than 4,000 workers.
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