Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) launched Monday mobile testing laboratory service to provide wastewater and sludge treatment solution to ready-made garment factories in Bangladesh. The new treatment solution titled ‘fast service for more effectiveness and less pollution’ was inaugurated at a programme held at a city hotel. Rodney Reed, Team Leader-Environment, PSES-GIZ, Dr Jochen Frank Weikert, Project Coordinator, PSES-GIZ, Dr Md Sohrab Ali, Deputy Director, Waste and BIO of Department of Environment (DoE), Md Mustafizur Rahman Akhand, Deputy Director of DoE, Faruqe Hasan, Senior Vice-President of BGMEA, Bratin Roy, Vice-President of TUV SUD South Asia, Dr Ferdinand Von Weyhe, Deputy Head of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Md Muslehuddin, Deputy Chief-Planning, Ministry of Commerce, were present at the launching ceremony. More than 1,800 ready-made garment (RMG) units in and around Dhaka are releasing wastewater, containing complex mixtures of hazardous chemical both organic and inorganic, into water bodies due to lack of knowledge, little access to information, limited resources and testing facilities. The facility is equipped with sampling and measuring instruments and accessories with offers on the spot testing and services for RMG sector and calibration of meter and monitoring of environmental parameters. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Muslehuddin said Department of Environment (DoE) will review the outcomes of the tests and findings as it provides the regulatory framework. He said they will visit small and medium RMG factories and assess the pollution, contributed by the factories, on the spot and prescribe for required solutions to this effect. According to GIZ, experts will train up the stakeholders on the best methods to treat wastewater and sludge as well as designing and training guidance for Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) to assist the process and ensure correct methodology for mitigating the risk of failures or problems. Testing methods are in line with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) methods complying with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) standards. It will also conduct workshops as well as seminars to scale up the overall information and knowledge available to the stakeholders of ready-made garment sector.
