Birds are nesting again, cicadas are singing loudly at night, and people are finally breathing clean air. After years of fighting, the residents of Sukoharjo, Indonesia, have achieved a major victory — not just for their community, but also for the environment.
The Supreme Court of Indonesia recently ruled in favor of the locals who filed a class action lawsuit against PT Rayon Utama Makmur for polluting their air and waterways.
According to Mongabay, the court ordered RUM, a subsidiary of Sritex, to pay 499.5 million rupiah (about $30,800 USD) to cover the cost of masks, medication, and medical bills — expenses from coping with toxic gas exposure.
Though RUM shut down operations in 2022, about a year after the lawsuit was filed, the court's decision still marks a groundbreaking win. It's more than compensation — it's a form of justice and a reminder that communities can hold powerful corporations accountable.
"We are living in peace now," Slamet Riyadi, the plaintiffs' spokesperson, told Mongabay. However, Slamet also acknowledged the factory's lasting negative effects on the community, including years of disrupted sleep and mental health struggles linked to poor air quality.
The lawsuit wasn't the only turning point. On March 1, 2025, Sritex, Indonesia's largest textile group and parent company of RUM, officially ceased all factory operations after declaring bankruptcy. According to the Jakarta Globe, the last round of mass layoffs occurred early this year, with the last employees leaving on Feb. 28.
Sritex once supplied garments to major fast fashion retailers like Uniqlo and H&M, but its operations came at a high cost.
In Sukoharjo, when the RUM factory produced rayon fibers or viscose, it released carbon disulfide gas into the air and contaminated the Bengawan Solo River with sulfuric acid and zinc-laden wastewater. Polluted irrigation systems, dying fish and crops, and declining health devastated the community.
This makes one thing clear: Fast fashion's harm doesn't start at the landfill — it begins at the factory. In fact, the UN Environment Programme estimates that up to 8% of the global harmful carbon pollution comes from the fashion industry and flags textile dyeing as the second largest polluter of water globally.
Winning lawsuits like this offers some relief, but it's only part of a bigger solution. The ultimate goal, as Slamet and others say, is to end pollution altogether.
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Definitely 👍 And as long as global demand for fast fashion remains high, factories like RUM will continue popping up elsewhere to feed the industry's appetite for cheap, fast-made clothing. It's one more reason to consider taking a clean break from fast fashion.
Thrifting and shopping secondhand help reduce demand for new clothing, saving shoppers around $1,700 a year and helping keep clothes in use and out of landfills. Through more thoughtful consumption habits, a cleaner future is possible.
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