.png)
Opinion: Cambodia Must Deal with its Fabric Waste
- communicationinter3
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Future Forum's young research fellow, Saly Mikavaty, was published in Cambodianess on March 1, 2025. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
Over the past two decades, Cambodia’s garment industry has grown significantly. In 2022, this sector drove Cambodia to become one of the top 10 exporters of clothing in the world, employing more than 884,151 workers with $12.8 billion of GFT exports to major export markets including the US, EU, UK, ASEAN, Japan, Canada, and others, according to the Coiuncil for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), over a third of the Kingdom’s GDP is linked to the garment industry.
While this industry has been linked to Cambodia's economic growth, this is also an industry that comes with environmental costs, particularly connected to the amount of fabric that is being wasted or disposed of in improper ways. In 2019, Cambodia’s garment industry created nearly 90.000 tonnes of garment and textile waste.
Most of this ends up in landfills. Data from the Ministry of Environment indicates that 60 percent of all of the industrial waste in landfills came from the garment industry.
The fabric being buried is made of synthetic materials like polyester, nylon, acrylic, and rayon, and may take more than 40 years to degrade. Gas and chemical leachates released through slow decomposition contaminate the air, soil, and groundwater, which has a detrimental effect on both human and animal health and on the environment.
Some of the waste is sold to brick kilns and burned as a form of cheap fuel. Factories often gain unregistered income through these transactions. The burning of polyester-based garments in brick kilns exposes workers and the public to toxic fumes with the microplastic fibers, posing significant risks to the surrounding environment and communities near the kilns.
In rare cases, garment waste is reused or recycled.
Transforming this industry with the goal of creating a circular economy — with systems that redirect the majority of waste back into the production stream — should be chief among the goals for key stakeholders.
Doing so is not just about hitting climate and environmental targets. more circularity could increase revenues and profits, mitigate risk and reduce industry costs. In short, this is not just good for sustainability. More circularity is good for regional competitiveness as well.
What policies and initiatives address the fabric waste management problem?
Problematic waste disposal highlights a lack of commitment from the industry to address the issue. Cambodia has several key policies that touch on waste — including Sub-Decree No. 36 on Solid Waste Management (1999), Sub-Decree on Management of Garbage and Solid Waste of Downtowns (2015) and Urban Solid Waste Management Policy 2020-2030.
These policies mainly focus on solid waste to ensure household waste management. There are still gaps in implementing these laws, including the lack of enforcement infrastructure. These policies do not specifically target the challenges posed by fabric waste in the garment industry.
Several government initiatives have been established that address issues with garment industry waste.
The Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2035, for instance, was developed in collaboration with government stakeholders and the UNEP.
The strategy admits that current practices for waste management are unsound, but this initiative aims to collect 100 percent waste by 2035, achieving a recycling rate of 95 percent or higher for non-organic recyclables and emphasizing the improvement of final disposal site management, including better leachate and landfill gas management, better working conditions for sanitation workers, and resource recovery to ensure the feasibility of tackling the garment waste recycling process.
The Cambodia Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025, drafted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and led by the Ministry of Environment, aims to transform the industrial sector into a more skill-driven industry by 2025, connecting it to regional and global value chains.
Within its objective, this policy sets the stage for the industry to adopt practices as a guide for driving the development of the industrial sector in the country and contribute toward maintaining sustainable and inclusive high economic growth.
Some interesting initiatives have tried to tackle this issue through partnerships with the private sector.
One key initiative is the Circular Fashion Partnership, a project by the Global Circular Fashion Forum (GCFF) to promote and expedite the recycling of post-industrial textile waste. The partnership aims to implement sustainable practices and scale up recycling efforts.
It also focuses on the proper sorting and recycling of textile waste with the goal of diverting it from landfills and incineration, aiming to create a circular economy in the fashion industry, where textile and fabric waste is minimized and materials are recycled to promote economic growth.
Another potential initiative is the Textile Waste Improvement Programme for Circularity (WIP4C) of the German Development Cooperation. GIZ has been in charge of organizing parties that will be involved in a future recycling ecosystem, including brands, clothing manufacturers, logistics companies, line ministries, and other government organizations, in addition to the recyclers.
The project, initiated and commissioned by GIZ FABRIC, involves collaboration between Closed Loop Fashion, Sevea, and Reverse Resources to solve the problem of textile waste by improving waste management practices at 21 local garment manufacturers.
The selection of participating factories has been done in coordination with six major fashion brands, and two recyclers have been identified as crucial partners.
The project also includes the involvement of TAFTAC (Cambodian Ministry of Environment, Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association in Cambodia) and Global Fashion Agenda.
These initiatives are promising but it’s important to note that both the GIZ and the Circular Fashion Partnership programs are in their initial phases of identifying impact areas, hotspots, communication strategies, and engaging a select group of stakeholders who are focused on waste management and materials.
Future private sector and government initiatives on this topic should focus not just on stakeholder collaboration. Although there are policies and laws in place, the adherence to waste management policies and initiatives appears to be limited, and there seems to be a need for stronger enforcement.
What additional measures should the government take?
The current landscape for garment waste recycling is hampered by a few key issues. Inadequate enforcement to disincentivize improper disposal, a limited recycling strategy, and factors related to tax policy all contribute to this problem. Although waste generators are legally responsible for waste management, private waste management companies handle collection and disposal, which can result in improper dumping.
One key area for potential reform that policymakers should look into is taxation strategies. According to the 2021 report on waste streams, Garment factories view tax implications as the main obstacle to formally selling their fabric waste to recycling facilities.
To change the incentives for factory owners, regulators should consider reforms to the tax code which would work to promote fabric waste recycling.
Going even further, tax breaks can be offered for companies committed to sustainable waste management practices and investing significantly in waste management infrastructure.
Reducing the tax burden on these businesses makes it more financially viable for them to allocate resources towards implementing proper waste management systems.
To implement tax breaks, the government can establish specific criteria and guidelines that businesses must meet to qualify for the incentives.
This can include requirements such as adopting environmentally friendly waste management technologies, implementing recycling programs, or achieving specific waste reduction targets. By setting clear standards, the government ensures that tax breaks are given to businesses that contribute to sustainable waste management.
This brings up another key topic, which is the need to further incentivise the private sector to tackle this issue head-on.
One role the private sector might play is to support the development of a textiles manufacturing industry in Cambodia. This is a key missing part in the industry’s ability to become more circular.
Without a homegrown textiles industry, Cambodia’s garment industry will remain completely linear — wherein the industry imports textiles, uses the textiles, and then discards the fabric waste.
As stakeholders in Cambodia consider how to address this topic, it might be useful to consider lessons we might learn from a country that is farther along on the fabric recycling trajectory. Several mechanisms have been implemented in Bangladesh to tackle fabric waste in that country’s garment industry that Cambodia would do well to study.
Efforts in Bangladesh have prioritized increasing the use of recycled fabrics in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector toward reducing environmental impact, saving money, and aligning with sustainable development goals.
This case is interesting because of Bangladesh's significant role in the global garment industry as the world's second-largest exporter of ready-made clothing.
By taking advantage of more recycled materials, Bangladesh’s garment industry can address two major challenges — reliance on imported textile fiber and the high volume of waste generated by the sector, particularly from pure cotton.
The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association has collaborated with major buyers like H&M to reduce carbon emissions through the use of recycled fabrics.
It showcases the commitment of stakeholders to focus on sustainability and circular economy practices in the textile industry, highlighting the potential for positive environmental impact.
Bangladesh has factories that use recycled materials to produce textile products. In 2014, recycling facilities like Filotex Ltd, recycled fabric for upholstery and home furnishings entirely from pre-consumer waste produced in other corners of the country’s garment industry.
The Cambodian government would do well to study the ways stakeholders in Bangladesh — the private and the public sectors — have been able to come together around these goals. Proactive engagement and collaboration will be needed to address the pervasive issue of fabric waste and prioritize promoting the adoption of a circular textile economy in Cambodia.
By reducing fabric waste, Cambodia can create new industries, generate jobs, and attract investment. Decisive policy action and meaningful collaboration between the private and public sectors can make our environment healthier and can secure stronger competitiveness for the garment sector for many years to come.
Mikavaty Saly is a Young Research Fellow at Future Forum Cambodia. Her research interests include environmental sustainability, Cambodia's trade policy, political economics and education systems.
Komen