NGT takes suo motu cognisance of textile waste crisis in Bengaluru

New Delhi, Sep 5 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report highlighting the growing textile waste problem in Bengaluru, the 'garment capital' of India.

A Bench headed by Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava registered an original application suo moto (on its own motion) following a news item titled 'Bengaluru’s garment boom leaves a toxic trail.'

Referring to the news report, the Bench, also comprising expert members Dr. A. Senthil Vel, Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi, and Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, noted that the city generates nearly 5,000 tonnes of fabric waste every year.

A recent study by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) found that while large export-oriented factories manage their waste responsibly, smaller units and tailoring shops dispose of fabric scraps along with household garbage, worsening the crisis.

In its order, the green tribunal observed that only about 40 per cent of the city’s textile waste is sent to Tiruppur and Panipat for recycling, and another 20 per cent is downcycled into low-grade products like mattresses and dolls.

These recycled products, however, have a short life cycle of 8–10 years before ending up in landfills or being incinerated.

Hazardous cotton waste is often mixed with regular trash, increasing pollution risks, while workers remain exposed to unsafe working conditions without proper safety gear or social protection.

“The issues highlighted in the news item indicate violation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,” observed the NGT in its order passed on September 2.

The green tribunal impleaded the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) through Bengaluru regional office, as respondents in the matter.

The Justice Shrivastava-led Bench directed that the matter be transferred to the NGT’s Southern Zonal Bench in Chennai for further hearing.

“Let notice be issued to the respondents for filing their response by way of affidavit at least one week before the next date of hearing. If any respondent authority directly files the reply without routing it through their advocate, then the said authority will remain virtually present to assist the Tribunal,” the order said.

The suo moto case is listed for further hearing before the Southern Zonal Bench, Chennai, on October 9.

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