Identification and prioritization of barriers to smart waste management systems in the textile and apparel (T&A) industry

The textile and apparel (T&A) industry is prominently criticized for extreme waste generation, deteriorating environmental sustainability. This esteemed fashion industry must incorporate smart waste management system (SWMS) to restructure the manufacturing processes. This study attempts to demonstrate the critical barriers to implementing SWMS in the traditional T&A industry of Bangladesh. An extensive literature review and expert validation assisted in selecting the most suitable barriers for the SWMS in Bangladesh’s T&A industry. A hierarchical influential model has been developed through Fuzzy Total Interpretive Structuring Modeling (TISM), and a causal relationship has been constructed using the Fuzzy Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The TISM modeling identified that “Lack of strategic planning” and “Inadequate stakeholder awareness” have the highest driving power and least dependence power among all the barriers. In addition, the TISM modeling indicated that “Lack of government supervision” and “Lack of IT infrastructure” have the highest dependence power and lowest driving power. Conversely, the DEMATEL analysis signified “Lack of government regulatory policies” as the most impactful barrier and “Lack of IT infrastructure” as the least impactful one. The extensive literature survey of relevant works revealed that there is no concrete research on identifying the barriers or obstacles to the implementation process of SWMS in Bangladesh’s T&A industry. This study first seeks to construct a double model evaluation to validate the crucial barriers to shaping the sustainable future of Bangladesh’s T&A industry.