Fashion manufacturing and material waste management in the circular economy: a conceptual model to achieve sustainable development goals

Abstract

The textiles and apparel manufacturing industry in the upstream fashion supply chain generates substantial materials waste that requires urgent efforts to manage effectively, reduce environmental impact, and foster sustainable practices. A huge research scope lies in materials waste management of upstream textiles and apparel manufacturing within the scopes of circular economy to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 for Bangladesh. This research identifies and categorises the materials waste generated in various production stages, determines the economic loss, and traces the informal trading of waste materials. Following an exploratory multiple-case approach, this research collects data from 17 textiles and apparel factories through semi-structured questionnaires, followed by materials stream mapping and observations. The study estimates a loss of approximately 0.70 USD for every piece of apparel export. To trace the destination of waste, it has been found that approximately 15 tons of informal trading of wastes took place in a single underground market. Overall, it leads to a significant loss of value addition that could have been added through a circular economy. Finally, to help achieve SDG 12, this study develops a conceptual waste management model in upstream textiles and apparel manufacturing with potential application opportunities within the circular economy.

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