Opportunities and Challenges for Bangladesh's Clothing Industry in the Circular Economy

Abstract

Textiles and clothing are essential human requirements. Every second, one garbage truckload of textiles is landfilled or burnt worldwide, with less than 1% of fibers used in garment manufacture recycled into new wearable clothes. This phenomenon is due to the linear economy in the textile industry, which is a one-way system: resources are converted into manufactured products, sold for use, and eventually discarded. This study aims to discover the barriers and scopes of implementing a circular economy in Bangladesh. For this, we conduct a qualitative analysis where we collect opinions from garment manufacturing industries stakeholders and partners to identify the practical challenges, scopes, and solutions for developing and establishing a circular economy in the garment manufacturing sector in Bangladesh. This study applied seven fundamental circular economy principles for the survey to discover the opportunities and challenges of the garments manufacturing industry inside. Interviews from different levels of industry experts summarized the actual situation of the industry. Most industry experts and stakeholders indicate that the cost of implementing greener production, technological obstacles, and lack of skilled workforce are the main barriers to effectuating the circular economy. This study definitively answers the questions regarding the current scenario of Bangladesh's clothing industry's circular economy. Furthermore, studies are required to find sustainable solutions to accomplish circular economy practice.