European envoys visit top eco-friendly garment factory

Three European ambassadors to Bangladesh yesterday visited Plummy Fashions in Narayanganj to witness environment-friendly knitwear production in the world’s first platinum-rated LEED-certified factory.

Sweden’s Charlotta Schlyter, Norway’s Sidsel Bleken and Denmark’s Winnie Estrup Petersen were accompanied by former caretaker government adviser Rokia Afzal Rahman.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certificate is from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

The envoys went around the factory and expressed high appreciation of initiatives to ensure not only a safe workplace but also to protect the environment, said Fazlul Hoque, managing director of Plummy Fashions.

They expressed satisfaction at the large-scale development taking place in the garment sector in recent years and hoped that new investors would follow the same path.

The green initiatives taken by Plummy and others will also help establish a very positive image of Bangladesh, they said.

Plummy saves up to 39.1 percent in electricity costs by using natural light, said Hoque, also a former president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Daylight usage is one of the major conditions for obtaining the green certification.

The factory also reduces groundwater use by 41 percent by preserving six lakh gallons of rainwater using a reservoir on its premises.

These are the two major components to minimising the operational costs of a factory, Haque said.

Moreover, Plummy emits 38 percent less carbon, keeps 64 percent of its 6.5-acre factory untouched, produces 65 kilowatts of electricity using solar panels and recycles water used for dyeing with an effluent treatment plant.

Directors Faysal Parag and Ranjan Kumar were present.