Button dyers under scanner for polluting Noyyal

The garment button dyeing industry workers of Tirupur have hit the panic button following the closure of 120 of their units in the knitwear hub over the recent weeks. These units were asked to shut shop and cease operations after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board ( TNPCB) officials found that they were discharging coloured residual water mixed with dye solvents into open drains and channels of the Noyyal river.

As many as 2,000 workers directly involved with button dyeing units scattered across the city and nearby areas are in a tight spot as a result of these developments, claimed the office bearers of Small Industries Button Zippers and Accessories Lab Association (SIBLA), Tirupur. This ancillary sector dependent on the garment cluster is yet to get organised and the SIBLA is the sole registered body with over 300 units each engaging about three to five workers.

"We do not use any toxic dyes and our process is also not as mechanised and complex as garment dyeing. The officials have claimed that as per the court ruling we cannot discharge coloured effluent water into the open drains and they are sealing off the button dyeing units. Our members also observed a one day fast and have called for suspension of production till authorities take a favourable stand in the issue," said R Muthaiyyan, secretary, SIBLA, Tirupur.

Most of the button dyeing units function out of rented sheds and congested areas in residential areas in the city. They procure finished plastic buttons from wholesale agents in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad and stockpile them in Tirupur. Based on the orders received from the garment units in Tirupur, these buttons are immersed in polyester and nylon dye solutions after they are heated in big open containers. After the buttons are dyed in the desired shades then it is taken out of the solution and dried to be stitched on to the garment. "Most of the units do let out the remaining solution into open drains but the quantity and the dissolved salt levels are minimal when compared to the garment dyeing and bleaching units and hence the pollution control board officials should not use the same yardstick against us," Muthaiyyan said.

However, R Kannan, district environmental engineer, Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), Tirupur, told TOI that the button dyeing units should also comply with the existing norms and cannot discharge coloured solvents into open drains and the river channels. He also added that these solutions contain chloride and sulphate salts which are not supposed to be openly discharged into the open. "We have received a petition from the SIBLA requesting us not to take action against the button dyeing units. So far 120 units have been sealed for letting out coloured effluents," Kannan said.

It is also being mooted that the button dyeing units should get organised and set up a common base in the garment cluster near the Common Effluent Treatment Plants so that they could ensure they are follow the zero effluent discharge norms devised as per the court directive. However, a majority of the units might face practical difficulties in adopting this method as they are extremely small scale in nature with minimum workforce and mechanisation.