As consumption of clothing continues to grow exponentially, the fast-fashion industry, the retail strategy of quick garment manufacturing at an affordable price, is growing at a whopping rate of 10% annually since 2009. Australia and New Zealand alone spends about AUD 10 billion on clothing annually, while globally consumers now buy 80 billion pieces of garment per year, a staggering 400% increase from two decades ago. Although an increasing number of brands in the developed world are now placing sustainability as one of their focuses in the sourcing of new stock, one issue that remains ‘hidden’ is the massive water pollution problem caused by textile dye discharge in developing nations.The fast fashion industry contributes to 20% of waste water in these nations. In particular, China, India and Bangladesh, which cover nearly 40% of the total textile export in the world, are facing the biggest burden created by our crave for fast fashion. Almost 50% of the rivers in these primarily agrarian nations are now biologically dead, affecting livelihood and health of humans and animals alike.
My research focusses on finding a green and environmental friendly solution to help solve this issue which is currently affecting a large number of people in my home country. I am working to develop enzyme technology to help degrade textile dyes from wastewater. In particular, I focus on working with enzymes that are isolated from extremophilic bacteria so that they can have a high resistance over a wide range of environmental and industrial conditions. Enzymes are intrinsically non-toxic and biodegradable, and they may serve as excellent alternatives to the conventional heavy metal catalysts that are usually used to treat waste water. My studies on laccases from three different bacterial species has already shown incredible pH and temperature tolerance and promise to degrade different industrial dyes.