Zero landfill framework for apparel industry solid waste

Abstract

Apparel industry being one of the key economic players, mass production of textile and apparel take place, resulting in a considerable amount of solid waste generation which ultimately ended up in landfills. Shortfalls in solid waste management has created several issues related to environmental, economic and social and thus it has become a burning issue. Therefore, innovative approaches are timely, needed to overcome this national problem. The Zero landfill concept has been identified as one of the innovative approach. Therefore, this research is focused to study the applicability of the Zero landfill concept to the Sri Lankan Apparel industry. For the study, conceptual framework for zero landfilling was developed and further three case studies were selected for the identification of suitability of the framework for the solid waste management in the apparel industry. Documentary evidences, interviews with experts were carried out to achieve the relevant data. The study revealed that industry generates main types of solid waste, such as, fabric, paper, cardboard, food waste and considerable amount of such waste can be managed through this proposed framework. A considerable amount of plastic and polythene waste ended up in landfills causing difficulties in achieving zero landfill concept for the apparel industry. With the expert opinions, it was confirmed that zero landfill concept can be achieved in the apparel industry by zero landfilling of plastic and polythene waste. Thus, the zero-landfilling concept can be implemented successfully in the country. Further, as landfilling has become a burning issue in the Sri Lankan context, the Zero landfilling concept is a vibrant solution to eliminate the solid waste landfilling.