A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday between Huntsman, a global manufacturer of industrial chemicals, and ‘Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry’, a joint project of the government of Bangladesh and Germany, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
According to the MoU, Huntsman and GIZ will cooperate to improve the management of chemicals in 10 textile mills in Bangladesh. The initiative forms part of Huntsman’s role in the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals programme (ZDHC) of 17 leading apparel and foot ware manufacturers, to help the industry eliminate hazardous chemicals from their products by 2020.
By joining hands, both GIZ and Huntsman will be able to support the development of industry-wide best practices in chemical management and on-the-ground implementation to contribute to a cleaner environment and increased environmental accountability.
In his opening speech at the MoU signing ceremony, Magnus Schmid, program coordinator of PSES, said: “Textile factories in Bangladesh should take environmental issues more seriously. Our Chemical Management program has trained 60 consultants from at least 20 service providing organisations so far, and we look forward to create a greater impact by partnering with Huntsman.
Through our training and this partnership, we shall contribute to achieve the goal of eliminating the use of hazardous substances from the production process.”