Green garment factories in Bangladesh : motivation and challenges

Abstract

Bangladesh is the second top readymade garments (RMG) exporting country with the highest number of green RMG factories of the world. This sector comprises nearly 85% of the total exports and 11.2 % of the total GDP in the last year (2018-19) which has a huge impact on its socio-economic development, eventually considered as the main driver for sustainable development. Green garment industrialization is a bold demand from different stakeholders as well as a proper initiative to achieve sustainable industrial progress though it incurs huge investment on fixed cost and technical upliftment that may put the factories in challenges from both internal and external competition. This study aimed to find out the motivational factors and challenges towards green garment factories in Bangladesh. The qualitative research method was applied using a semi-structured questionnaire to interview 15 key informants from the mid to upper managerial level from Bangladeshi RMG factories. Besides, secondary sources e.g., reports, journals, books etc. was the basis for understanding this issue.The collected data has been transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that garment owners are mainly motivated for green garment for environmental safety, safe working place, less energy consumption and factory reputation although there are many challenges including huge infrastructure cost, high maintenance cost and lack of financial support without any incentives or proper assurance from the government and buyers. The collective efforts from the producers, buyers, international agencies and government can make this sector green and sustainable.