On October 30th, 2018 from 9.00 am to 4.00pm, SMART Myanmar hosted a workshop at the UMFCCI Building, led by international experts from Bureau Veritas on mold awareness and prevention in the garment, footwear and leather production industries. 23 participants from several different factories attended this workshop. In a tropical country such as Myanmar, mold prevention is an important topic. Better systems for mold prevention can reduce the unnecessary waste of materials and energy, thereby saving resources and money and also helping preserve factory reputation.

Key elements for successful mold prevention include: control of humidity, control of "food" for mold – especially in the form of cellulosic materials – and control of temperature. Experts from Bureau Veritas conducted the seminar for SMART and also gave three of SMART's local trainers pratical on-site capacity building by conducting mold prevention assessments at one garment and one handbag factory in Yangon. The week was concluded with a wrap-up "ToT" session for SMART's local trainers. 

SMART is particularly interested in mold prevention as one element which the project considers during factory energy audits. Evaporative cooling systems involve the physics of cooling via evaporation. As such, especially potential for mold to form in the packaging department when an evaporative cooling system is being utilized is one area on which some factories need better awareness.