Lessons from cleaner production experiences in Indian hosiery clusters

This paper focuses on lessons learnt from Cleaner Production (CP) experiences in textile bleaching and dyeing (hosiery) clusters in India. The regional and industry contexts for CP are demonstrated by outlining the interaction and interdependency between the urban and rural environment, and an industry cluster centered on Tirupur City. A policy for fostering water use productivity in the industry cluster is discussed, which shows how that in order for resource productivity to be maintained, regional and industry CP strategies should be aligned. This is illustrated by a discussion on CP lessons in water and chemicals conservation. The paper also recommends future areas of CP investigations required in the industry to make it ecologically sustainable in the long-term.