Environmental issues in textiles.

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Environmental issues in textiles

        

Environmental effects of the textile industry:-

  • Processes used to produce a design can affect the environment but it is possible to assess how environmentally friendly a product is by carrying out a “cradle to the grave” analysis.
  • It isn’t possible to extract raw materials without causing some danger to the environment.
  • Fabrics made from natural sources are biodegradable so waste disposal is not a problem and this causes little damage (if any) to the environment.
  • Synthetic fibres (made from coal or oil) are non renewable and the extraction causes significant environmental damage. They are not biodegradable.
  • Raw materials have to be transported to mills to be manufactured into yarns, fabrics etc. they are carried by road, rail, or ship. These methods of transport use fuel and the exhaust fumes emitted add to global pollution.
  • At the mills the production of textile items requires energy and many use toxic chemicals. If the waste products (e.g. chemical effluents) are discharged straight into the atmosphere. They may be contributing to global warming.
  • Textile products that are produced to lost a long time e.g. socks are more environmentally friendly because fewer new products need to be made unlike tights which can only be worn a few times before being disposed of due to laddering. More tights need to be made to meet high demands.

Production problems:-

  • Dyeing uses vast amounts of water, and transfers dye into the effluent. This results in an unsightly pollutant that is often toxic and takes a long time to biodegrade.
  • New processes are currently being developed which do not pollute the effluent and which keeps water consumption to a minimum.
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Eco- labelling:-

  • A scheme being piloted by the EC on t- shirts and bed- linen in Denmark.
  • Products must pass a strict set of criteria before being deemed worthy of carrying the eco- label.
  • The criteria examine key features of the products life cycle e.g. consumption of water.
  • The “cradle to grave” approach (judging the “greenness” of a product right through its life cycle):

Textile recycling:-

  • The recycling of woollen textiles into ...

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