A SMEP research brief, led by Atiq Zaman, Ruan Parrott and Henrique Pacini, examines how treating and recovering wastewater from a textile mill can yield significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. The brief is based on a SMEP-funded pilot project led by a consortium made up of two technology providers (Panta Rei Water Solutions and Grundfos), two prominent brands (Primark and H&M), a non-governmental organisation focused on water-related matters (WaterAid) and a textiles factory (Fakir Knitwears Ltd). This pilot project, known as the Textile Wastewater Management project, focuses on advanced wastewater treatment and recovery, and is implemented at the participating textiles factory in Bangladesh, Fakir Knitwear Ltd, who is also a key project co-financier.
Wastewater and climate action
Wastewater management is a critical yet often overlooked dimension of climate action. Globally, untreated or poorly treated wastewater is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane and nitrous oxide, which have significantly higher warming potentials than carbon dioxide. In addition to direct emissions, wastewater mismanagement intensifies stress on freshwater catchments, depleting groundwater reserves and discharging pollutants that degrade ecosystems and diminish resilience to climate change. This is particularly true for textiles manufacturing. Conventional textile production uses large amounts of chemicals and resources, generating wastewater rich in heavy metals, dyes, bleaching agents, finishing chemicals, and microplastics. When treatment plants cannot cope with effluent volumes, untreated discharges to the environment may cause heavy metal bioaccumulation in aquatic food chains and other pollution hazards. Pollution impact is coupled with high water use intensity within the textiles manufacturing sector – a double-edged sword compounding water scarcity. It is estimated that producing a single cotton t-shirt can use up to 2,700 litres of fresh water (Choudhury, 2014). Moreover, textile dyeing and finishing processes contribute approximately 17–20 % of global industrial water pollution (Kant, 2012).
The textiles sector is critically important for Bangladesh – the country is the second-largest apparel exporter globally – but Bangladesh is battling with rising pollution and water scarcity concerns (Ranjan, 2020). On the positive side, there are signs that a transition to cleaner production might be underway in Bangladesh’s textile sector. The newly launched Bangladesh Alliance for Water Reuse and Recycling (A4R) – a public-private partnership facilitated by the World Bank’s 2030 Water Resources Group – is shining a spotlight on the opportunity for improved wastewater management in the textiles sector in Bangladesh. This multi-stakeholder alliance has selected this SMEP pilot project, the Textiles Wastewater Management project, as its first national water reuse case study. The project was recently launched publicly at an event hosted by the participating textile factory, Fakir Knitwears Ltd.
The SMEP-funded pilot for textiles wastewater management
The project involved the installation of an advanced wastewater treatment plant at Fakir Knitwears, demonstrating how circular water consumption can be incorporated into a garment factory’s total resource envelope. The advanced wastewater treatment system a tertiary water treatment process designed to complement the existing effluent treatment plant (ETP) – combines high quality disc filtration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. It can purify up to 2,400 cubic meters of water per day (2.4 million litres) and recover as much as 50% of the treated water (up to 1,200 cubic meters per day). The recovered water (treated) is recycled back into the Fakir Knitwear factory, and coupled with energy-efficient reticulation pumps, reduces the energy intensity of the water recovery process. The remainder of the treated wastewater meets safe discharge standards and is discharged in the conventional manner.
The pilot’s 50% water recovery potential indicates substantial reduction potential in both water extraction and treatment costs, and reduced pollutant leakage. With this potential, the plant could retain over 1.29 million cubic meters of water in circulation over six years instead of pumping it from already stressed freshwater sources in Bangladesh (predominantly groundwater from aquifers). This recirculation reduces electricity demand needed for groundwater pumps and eliminates the need for chemical softening processes for extracted groundwater. The greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation calculations associated with these savings shows that for each cubic metre of wastewater treated using reverse osmosis, the factory avoids 17–30 kg of CO₂e compared to conventional treatment methods or when being discharged untreated.
The method to calculate the GHG emissions reductions factored both direct and indirect emissions attributed to the wastewater treatment plant.
- The direct emissions (Scope 1) include those from on-site biological treatment processes (mainly using the electricity to operate equipment) and sludge management, including sludge to landfills and on-site combustion of fossil fuels, such as diesel/gas-powered electricity generation, to run the factory’s water treatment plant. A secondary wastewater treatment, aeration,[1] is among the most critical and energy-intensive processes, responsible for 50–60% of a plant’s total energy demand.
- Indirect emissions (Scope 2) involve the use of purchased electricity, heat, or steam consumed by the treatment plant (US-EPA, 2025).
Other indirect emissions (Scope 3) are excluded, but would cover upstream and downstream activities, such as production and transport of treatment chemicals and off-site sludge disposal.
[1] Aeration is important in wastewater treatment to supply oxygen needed for the breakdown of organic matter, thereby reducing Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). If untreated, high COD and BOD levels can deplete oxygen in receiving water bodies, contributing to eutrophication and harming aquatic life.
What would scaling such solutions in the textiles sector in Bangladesh achieve?
Bangladesh’s textile industry – the second-largest apparel exporter globally – contributes 12% of GDP, 84% of exports, and employs over 4 million people. However, it is a major environmental pressure point, responsible for 8.2% of the nation’s electricity consumption, 1,500 billion litres of industrial water withdrawals annually, and 12-15% of GHG emissions.
Fortunately, evidence suggests that a transition to cleaner production in Bangladesh is already underway. This is apparent from the government introducing stricter environmental regulations concerning wastewater discharge in 2023, a global focus on complying with international standards such as Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), and the numerous proactive actions taken by key industry associations, such as the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to align with decarbonisation and sustainability agendas and promoting the use of cleaner technologies. The rise of strategic alliances like A4R, which promote water reuse innovation in manufacturing, is a particularly positive development for a sector that plays a critical role in Bangladesh’s economy.
Moreover, if just a quarter of Bangladesh’s textile mills took up the SMEP pilot solution, the sector could save 43.6 million cubic meters of groundwater and cut emissions by 1.55–2.64 million tonnes CO₂e each year. This projection rests on treating an additional 43.6 million cubic meters of wastewater annually. If achieved, such a scenario would represents 4–7% of the country’s 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target. This is particularly pertinent when considering that the government is working toward a 5% GHG reduction (12 MtCO₂e) by 2030 to achieve its obligations under the Paris Agreement. Such shifts would also help brands meet global commitments on water circularity and climate action, linking trade incentives with environmental compliance.
Unlocking finance for scale-up
The pilot directly supports twelve national and sectoral policies and strategies, including Bangladesh’s NDC action plan for industrial energy efficiency. It highlights how circular economy practices in water management can drive measurable climate and economic benefits. Scaling up the initiative requires targeted financing and partnerships across the textile value chain.
Several multilateral funding mechanisms might be available to support wider uptake. These include the Water Resources Group 2030, Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) which could finance wastewater treatment, energy efficiency and circular economy investments.
Nationally, mechanisms such as Bangladesh Bank’s Green Transformation Fund (GTF) and the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) can co-finance infrastructure in export-oriented industries. Governance models like public-private partnerships (PPPs), eco-industrial parks and performance-based incentives could further lower the capital burden for individual factories.
Private-sector tools such as sustainability-linked loans, green bonds, and brand-supplier sustainability programmes also offer powerful levers for sector-wide transformation.
Wider reflections and learning from the pilot study
Scaled adoption of this pilot technology across Bangladesh’s textile sector could contribute up to 7% of the country’s 2030 NDC emission reduction target, which highlights the value of wastewater treatment as a cost-effective and underutilised lever for national decarbonisation.
From a systems perspective, the SMEP pilot shows that advanced wastewater treatment offers measurable co-benefits for climate change mitigation, water security, and compliance with global frameworks such as the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) guidelines. These in turn, will contribute meaningfully to environmental and human health, sparing communities reliant on freshwater for their livelihoods from the impacts of pollution (Kesari et al., 2021).
Elzette Henshilwood
SMEP PMA Technical Project and Relationship Manager
With supporting edits by Amanda Dinan (SMEP PMA) and Staci Warrington (SMEP PMA)