Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh Winnie Estrup Petersen has said Bangladesh plays a vital role in adopting sustainable practices, especially in textile and garment industry.

'I'm glad that Novozymes is a partner to Bangladesh in its journey in adopting more sustainable practices,' she said while addressing a function at the Edge Gallery on Sunday evening hosted by Danish Embassy in Dhaka in association with Danish company Novozymes.

Novozymes, a world leader in biological solutions, launched Livelong, a sustainable solution for producing better quality and long-lasting clothes for plant-based fibres in Bangladesh.

Novozymes' new enzyme technology that gives the Livelong effects is expected to help fill the gap and make the textile industry more sustainable.

A Life Cycle Assessment shows that if all cotton T-shirts produced in the world had a 20 percent extended lifetime, this would save 24 million tons CO2, which corresponds to the annual emissions of 10 million medium-sized cars, according to the Danish Embassy in Dhaka.

It would also save 27 billion m3 of water. This corresponds to the annual consumption of 700 million people in India, it said.

Being a country of energy efficiency and environmentally-friendly solutions, the Ambassador said, Denmark is always striving towards technological advancements through research and development.

She said sustainability is not only a word, rather a way of living and sharing with all, for the wellbeing and future of the world.

President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Dr Rubana Huq said the market is changing, consumers are changing, and consumption patterns are changing.

She said the new generation is far more conscious about what they are purchasing. 'They're not just buying the product, they're buying the experiences and they want to know which impact their choices have on the environment.'

Managing Director of DBL Group MA Jabbar said Bangladesh has a lot of challenges, but they are quick learners to adopt innovations.

'We're a challenge taker as a nation. We're adopting new technology. Novozymes is producing biological solutions which we're using to create more sustainable clothing for our branders and retailers,' he said.

Business Unit Director, Technical Industries, Novozymes Ethel Fanny Laursen said all textile manufacturing and brands - even with eco-friendly fibres -- have a hefty environmental impact.

She said brands should seriously consider the opportunity of offering consumers the sustainable choice of longer lasting garments. 'Because buying clothes that last longer is one of the best and easiest things that consumers can do to make an eco-friendly choice.'

'Novozymes can help decrease the amount of water used while producing clothes which is the first step in the right direction, but we need to do more. If not for business or profit, we need to do more for the next generation,' said Managing Director of Denim Expert Ltd. and founder of Sustainable Apparel Forum Mostafiz Uddin.

He said they know that it requires 10,000 liters of water to produce one pair of jeans and one t-shirt. 'We only have one world, one planet.'

Global clothing production has more than doubled in the last 15 years, but consumers keep clothes for just half the amount of time, making the textile industry one of the most wasteful industries in the world.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan