The speakers at a seminar in the city have suggested to create efficient professionals for textile industries to save hard-earned currency being paid to foreign nationals employed in this sector.
Terming textile industry a top polluter as it uses hazardous chemicals, they underscored the need for taking steps to make the industry environment friendly.
They warned that toxic substances being used by a number of textile factories and their effluents are affecting the next generation by harming the environment.
They conveyed the warning while addressing the seminar on 'ZDHC and Sustainability Implementation in Textile Industry', held in the city on the sideline of the launching of a training and capacity-building programme.
TextileToday, a magazine for textile, apparel and fashion industry, organised the seminar in collaboration with Engineering Resources International (ERI) Limited.
South Asian Director of ZDHC Programme Prasad Pant, President of Institution of Textile Engineers and Technologists (ITET), Bangladesh Shafiqur Rahman, Senior Vice President Selim Reza, ERI Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Akbar Hakim and TextileToday Editor Tareq Amin were present, among others, and spoke.
Terming textile as the third most polluting industry, Prasad Pant said: "We are pushing these hazardous chemicals to affect our next generation."
Mentioning that the Bangladesh government has set a target to earn US $50 billion per annum through apparel export by 2021, Engr. Shafiqur Rahman said: "To fulfill this target, we need more efficient professionals."
Talking about sustainability implementation, Tareq Amin said in a world where people are living amidst the industries, are struggling every moment to sustain in this environment.
"For sustainability management and installation, we need to build efficient professionals," he noted.
In this regard, TextileToday has already taken an initiative by its Textile Today training module, he said.
"We have launched a certificate course on Sustainability Management in collaboration with ERI," he mentioned.
In his address, Selim Reza said: "It does not make sense that we will hire efficient professionals from India or Sri Lanka and spend our (hard) earned money for them."
China, Turkey and Vietnam are spending millions of dollars on developing human capital which is the first step behind all industrial successes, he noted.
He emphasised on taking a holistic approach towards sustainability by all stakeholders to put some real positive impact on businesses, people and the planet.
