Bangladeshi garment factory tops peer

In a testament to the garment sector's continuous sustainability initiatives, a Bangladeshi knitwear manufacturer recently broke a record of a local peer to attain the highest rating of an international green building certification agency.

SM Sourcing, a garment factory located in Gazipur, has scored 106 out of 110, the highest in the globe. It received the certification on Tuesday.

A brochure of the company states that they had worked on attaining energy savings of 30 percent, drinking water savings of 60 percent, increasing daylight use by 75 percent and meeting 15 percent of energy demand from renewable sources.

The previous record was held by Green Textile Limited Unit 4, a joint concern of Epic Group and Envoy Legacy of Bangladesh, which had scored 104 out of 110 at the start of this year.

The certifications are provided under a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system of non-profit United Stated Green Building Council.

There are four certification categories with platinum being the highest, gold the second highest and silver third. There is also a fourth category for industrial units that just acknowledges the meeting of minimum requirements.

Currently Bangladesh not only has the highest rated but also the highest number of green garment factories in the world.

There are now 206 LEED certified green factories in Bangladesh, of which 76 are platinum rated, 116 gold, 10 silver and four just certified.

This year alone 24 garment factories received the certifications, of which 16 are platinum and 8 gold rated.

"We have 500 more factories in the queue to get LEED certification," said Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), in a statement yesterday.

"Qualifying for LEED certification is not an easy task, it requires significant investment and most importantly it requires a vision and commitment to our planet and our future generations," he said.

"Every single step taken by a factory earns a point, and every point earned justifies a unique contribution to our planet earth," he said.

"More importantly, through our actions and improvements Bangladesh continues to be a preferred sourcing destination for the global brands," he added.