M&S among companies under fire over pollution claims

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/10/marks-spencer-pollution-textile


A report published by Chinese NGOs highlights what they claim are deficiencies in the environmental management of supply chains in China. Photograph: Ryan Pyle/Corbis

Some of the biggest international clothing brands and retailers have been criticised by a group of Chinese NGOs because of the pollution caused by textile producers that are claimed to be suppliers.

A report published by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPEA), Friends of Nature, Green Beagle, Envirofriends and Nanjing Green Stone highlights what the NGOs claim are deficiencies in the environmental management of supply chains in China. The report says that a number of textile manufacturers that allegedly supply material for the production of clothes for large brands and retailers including Marks & Spencer, Disney, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have been found to be carrying out polluting practices.

The director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, Ma Jun, said the report found that many major brands which claim to have sustainable practices "have not extended their management to the material suppliers. Some of them don't know at all who the suppliers or finishers are and therefore there is no environmental management to this process."