Dirty Fashion 1 revisited

The report details severe pollution and health crises linked to Aditya Birla Group's viscose plants in India and Indonesia, highlighting discrepancies between the company's public sustainability image and the actual conditions on the ground.

• At the Grasim Industries plant in Madhya Pradesh, India, an independent laboratory test of an air sample found carbon disulphide levels to be 125 times the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value.
• A major health incident occurred in October 2017 in Parmarkhedi, India, where two residents died and sixty villagers became seriously ill and lost the ability to walk; locals attribute this to contaminated water from the Birlagram industrial estate.
• Water pollution from the Grasim plant in India has devastated local agriculture, leaving farmers unable to grow most crops except wheat and forcing them to sell produce at prices US$3 to US$5 below the government rate due to contamination fears.
• Worker safety at the Grasim plant is reported as alarmingly poor, with claims of frequent accidents and a report that one worker dies every month.
• At the Indo Bharat Rayon (IBR) plant in West Java, Indonesia, investigators observed steaming hot discharge with thick foam, and laboratory tests showed river water around the discharge pipe failed to meet 'worst-in-class' Indonesian water quality standards.
• The Aditya Birla Group is accused of greenwashing, as it uses sustainability certifications like CanopyStyle and ISO 14001 to project an eco-friendly image while denying evidence of severe pollution at its manufacturing sites.
• The report recommends that Aditya Birla Group transition to closed-loop manufacturing to recover hazardous chemicals and align its operations with the EU Best Available Technique (BAT) standard (2007).

APA

Changing Markets Foundation (2018). Dirty Fashion 1 revisited. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DIRTY_FASHION_REVISITED_SPOTLIGHT_ON_A_POLLUTING_VISCOSE_GIANT-1.pdf

Chicago

Changing Markets Foundation. Dirty Fashion 1 revisited. 2018. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DIRTY_FASHION_REVISITED_SPOTLIGHT_ON_A_POLLUTING_VISCOSE_GIANT-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Changing Markets Foundation |title=Dirty Fashion 1 revisited |date=February 2018 |url=https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DIRTY_FASHION_REVISITED_SPOTLIGHT_ON_A_POLLUTING_VISCOSE_GIANT-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{changingmarketsfoundation2018dirty, author = {{Changing Markets Foundation}}, title = {{Dirty Fashion 1 revisited}}, institution = {Changing Markets Foundation}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DIRTY_FASHION_REVISITED_SPOTLIGHT_ON_A_POLLUTING_VISCOSE_GIANT-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }