Anuja Ojha, Senior Specialist, Sustainability - India & Sri Lanka, at Levi Strauss & Co. charts the company's vision for sustainable clothing. 1. What do you have to say about the fast fashion cycle that puts workers' incomes and lives at risk as well as the environment?Ojha: According to our lifecycle assessment, an average pair of Levi's jeans is worn for a little more than three years before being donated or discarded.Our clothes are built to last. If taken care of properly, a pair of Levi's jeans can last for decades if not centuries (a pair of Levi's jeans in our archives dating back to the 1800s), which is not only good for your wallet but also good for the environment. As a company, we have taken other innovative sustainable steps that include a series of innovative finishing techniques we call Water
Levis's to reduce greenhouse emissions by 90%
Anuja Ojha, Senior Specialist, Sustainability - India & Sri Lanka, at Levi Strauss & Co. charts the company's vision for sustainable clothing. 1. What do you have to say about the fast fashion cycle that puts workers' incomes and lives at risk as well as the environment?Ojha: According to our lifecycle assessment, an average pair of Levi's jeans is worn for a little more than three years before being donated or discarded.Our clothes are built to last. If taken care of properly, a pair of Levi's jeans can last for decades if not centuries (a pair of Levi's jeans in our archives dating back to the 1800s), which is not only good for your wallet but also good for the environment. As a company, we have taken other innovative sustainable steps that include a series of innovative finishing techniques we call Water
We also recognize that water issues pose some of the greatest threats to the global economy and people around the world. We also acknowledge that water demand and scarcity are variable and that our prior efforts at the manufacturing stages reflected the one-size-fits-all approach that did not address the geographically nuanced reality of water stress.Recognizing that saving a liter of water where it is plentiful, while important, is not as critical as saving a liter where water is scarce, LS&Co. will shift from a singular "one-size-fits-all" approach to a more responsive, contextual approach to water management. This will allow LS&Co. to focus reduction efforts where they are needed most, with a goal of reducing its cumulative water use for manufacturing by 50 percent in water-stressed areas by 2025.In 2010, the Levi Strauss Foundation partnered with Better Cotton in India and other cotton-producing countries to support the critical needs of cotton farmers. Based in Geneva, the Better Cotton Initiative promotes growing cotton in ways that are healthier for farming communities and for the environment. Better Cotton farmers use less water and fewer chemicals. In 2010, more than 30,000 farmers were trained in producing better cotton globally.Through this initiative, LSF supported LS&Co.'s vision to make global cotton production NS) Andhra Pradesh government has reinstated Jitender Sharma as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Andhra Pradesh Med Tech Zone (AMTZ).The state government issued an order, re-appointing pending the enquiry against him.According to the Government Order (GO) issued by Industry, Infrastructure, Investment and Commerce Department, this has been done 'keeping in view the criticality of the project for the state and the public interest'.The official was removed after Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government took over in May following the electoral defeat of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu.An order removing Sharma mentioned that his name had cropped up in a series of complaints on certain irregularities in the procurement of civil works and equipment in setting up of Med Tech Zone in Visakhapatnam.However, many believed Sharma became a victim in power game following the change of guard.Sharma's reinstatement followed an appeal by the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan in September to look into his sudden removal.Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator of AIMED, had urged the government to make use of the services of the "very talented" Dr. Sharma, who is also called the "Medtech Man of India".According to Nath, Sharma has played a key role in putting Andhra Pradesh on the global map as a hub for manufacturing medical devices, and his sudden removal is a major setback for the Indian medical device industry.It was in 2016 that then TDP government had appointed Sharma as MD and CEO of AMTZ that was proposed to have in-house high investment scientific facilities to help manufacturers reduce the cost of manufacturing. This was claimed to be the first of its kind project in Asia, aimed to flourish as a hub of medical device manufacturing, putting India on the global map of high end medical equipment production and make health care products affordable and accessible.AIMED noted that Sharma founded AMTZ from "concept to completion and progress" and that his 'team accomplished the impossible jaw-dropping feat of creating a Med Tech Park on barren land in less than a year.'"So much so that even the Global Medical Community along with WHO congregated to Vizag to join forces with Dr. Sharma and his team," it had said.Prior to his appointment as MD of AMTZ, Sharma was the head of health technology department at NHSRC under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India and the advisor, health & medical technology to Government of Andhra Pradesh.He had earlier served as hospital administrator at Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Hospital in Andhra Pradesh. He is known for leading several projects and health technology and research studies in leading institutions from AIIMS New Delhi to WHO- Switzerland.
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