Textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the

subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry

PROCESS OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Textile industry overview The textile industry is a significant contributor to many national economies, encompassing both small and large-scale operations worldwide. In terms of its output or production and employment, the textile industry is one of the largest industries in the world. The textile manufacturing process is characterised by the high consumption of resources like water, fuel and a variety of chemicals in a long process sequence that generates a significant amount of waste. The common practices of low process efficiency result in substantial wastage of resources and a severe damage to the environment. The main environmental problems associated with textile industry are typically those associated with water body pollution caused by the discharge of untreated effluents. Other environmental issues of equal importance are air emission, notably Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)s and excessive noise or odour as well as workspace safety. Pollutants released during production of textile

Air pollution Most processes performed in textile mills produce atmospheric emissions. Gaseous emissions have been identified as the second greatest pollution problem (after effluent quality) for the textile industry. Speculation concerning the amounts and types of air pollutants emitted from textile operations has been widespread but, generally, air emission data for textile manufacturing operations are not readily available. Air pollution is the most difficult type of pollution to sample, test, and quantify in an audit. Air emissions can be classified according to the nature of their sources:

Point sources: Boilers Ovens Storage tanks

Diffusive: Solvent-based Wastewater treatment Warehouses Spills Textile mills usually generate nitrogen and sulphur oxides from boilers. Other significant sources of air emissions in textile operations include resin finishing and drying operations, printing, dyeing, fabric preparation, and wastewater treatment plants. Hydrocarbons are emitted from drying ovens and from mineral oils in high-temperature drying/curing. These processes can emit formaldehyde, acids, softeners, and other volatile compounds. Residues from fibre preparation sometimes emit pollutants during heat setting processes. Carriers and solvents may be emitted during dyeing operations depending on the types of dyeing processes used and from wastewater treatment plant operations. Carriers used in batch dyeing of disperse dyes may lead to volatilisation of aqueous chemical emulsions during heat setting, drying, or curing stages. Acetic acid and formaldehyde are two major emissions of concern in textiles. The major sources of air pollution in the textile industry are summarised in Table 2

Water pollution The textile industry uses high volumes of water throughout its operations, from the washing of fibres to bleaching,dyeing and washing of finished products. On average, approximately 200 litres of water are required to produce l kg of textiles (Table 3). The large volumes of wastewater generated also contain a wide variety of chemicals, used throughout processing. These can cause damage if not properly treated before being discharged into the environment. Of all the steps involved in textiles processing, wet processing creates the highest volume of wastewater. The aquatic toxicity of textile industry wastewater varies considerably among production facilities. The sources of aquatic toxicity can include salt, surfactants, ionic metals and their metal complexes, toxic organic chemicals, biocides and toxic anions. Most textile dyes have low aquatic toxicity. On the other hand, surfactants and related compounds, such as detergents, emulsifiers and dispersants are used in almost each textile process and can be an important contributor to effluent aquatic toxicity, BOD and foaming.

Solid waste pollution The primary residual wastes generated from the textile industry are non-hazardous. These include scraps of fabric and yarn, off-specification yarn and fabric and packaging waste. There are also wastes associated with the storage and production of yarns and textiles, such as chemical storage drums, cardboard reels for storing fabric and cones used to hold yarns for dyeing and knitting. Cutting room waste generates a high volume of fabric scraps, which can often be reduced by increasing fabric utilisation efficiency in cutting and sewing. Table 4 summarises solid wastes associated with various textile manufacturing processes

O Ecotextiles company information

The producer of high quality, organic fabricshopes to raise awareness about textile choices and support environmentally preferable processes, practices, power sources and materials, from the start of the textiles process to its arrival in homes. O Ecotextiles aims to change the way fabrics are made, by proving that it's possible to produce luxurious, sensuous fabrics in ways that are non-toxic, ethical and sustainable. The textile industry has been condemned as being one of the worlds worst offenders in terms of pollution because it requires a great amount of two components: Chemicals: as many as 2,000 different chemicals are used in the textile industry, from dyes to transfer agents; and Water: a finite resource that is quickly becoming scarce, and is used at every step of the process both to convey the chemicals used during that step and to wash them out before beginning the next step. The water becomes full of chemical additives and is then expelled as wastewater; which in turn pollutes the environment: by the effluents heat; by its increased pH; and because its saturated with dyes, de-foamers, bleaches, detergents, optical brighteners, equalizers and many other chemicals used during the process. Traditionally produced fabrics contain residuals of chemicals used during their manufacture chemicals that evaporate into the air we breathe or are absorbed through our skin. Some of the chemicals are carcinogenic or may cause harm to children even before birth, while others may trigger allergic reactions in some people. According to a June 5, 2005 article in Business Week, the population that is allergic to chemicals will grow to 60 percent by the year 2020. Steps taken by Oecotextiles to control environmental pollution O Ecotextiles hopes to make environmentally appealing technologies appealing and available to the mainstream, and to be among the forefront of companies raising peoples consciousness about the far-reaching implications of their textile choices. As such, O Ecotextiles ensures that its partners and products do not: support the sale and use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers to grow the fibers, which poison our soils and pollute groundwater;

 pollute wastewater; O Ecotextiles mills treat their wastewater so it doesnt degrade our streams and waterways; contain harmful chemical residues that evaporate into the air or are absorbed into skin; accumulate in landfills; O Ecotextiles fabrics biodegrade (given conditions that allow it to proceed); come from producers who pay unfair wages or have poor working conditions.

Water Usage: The textile industry is one of the most chemically intensive industries on earth, and the No. 1 polluter of clean water (after agriculture). It takes about 500 gallons of water to produce enough fabric to cover one sofa. Half a billion people already live in regions prone to chronic drought, and by 2025, that number is likely to have increased five-fold, to between one-third and one-half of the entire world population. Global consumption of fresh water is doubling every 20 years. O Ecotextiles is thrilled to have a relationship with a mill based in southern Italy, which uses no water for the weaving process. Water Pollution: Mills discharge millions of gallons of effluent each year, full of chemicals such as formaldehyde (HCHO), chlorine, heavy metals (such as lead and mercury) and others, which are significant causes of environmental degradation and human illnesses. The mill effluent is also often of a high temperature and pH, both of which are extremely damaging. All of the mills O Ecotextiles uses have wastewater treatment in place. Every 25 meters of an O Ecotextiles sofa fabric prevents 2,300 liters of chemically infused effluentabout the size of a California hot tub and containing from 1 to 10 kg of toxic chemicalsfrom entering the environment. (Based on VPI study for Dept. Of Environmental Quality for the state of Virginia.) Fibers: O Ecotextiles emphasizes the use of the "bast" fibers such as hemp, linen, and abaca. A "bast" plant is one where the fiber that is spun into yarn comes from the stalk, and not the flower of the plant. Bugs don't munch on stalks, so the plants can be grown without pesticides. O Ecotextiles fibers include:

 Hemp and Flax (Linen) made from water-retted hemp, employing biological processes to extract the fiber from the stalk. The colors of the fibers vary, depending on the weather during cultivation and retting, yielding subtle, natural variations. Bamboo used by O Ecotextiles does not impact Panda habitats. Almost all bamboo fiber is made using the viscose process (non-viscose bamboo fiber is too coarse for furnishings or apparel), which employs sulfuric acid (often improperly handled because the processes are so laborious and expensive). O Ecotextiles is proud to produce bamboo viscose with minimal deleterious environmental effects. In its wastewater, sulfuric acid is sequestered completely and neutralized using bacteria. O Ecotextiles uses only fibers that have been grown without any toxic pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. The company supports maintenance of healthy soils, which in turn helps minimize global warming.

Cotton is the second-most damaging agricultural crop in the world; 25 percent of all pesticides used globally are put on cotton crops. Most cotton is irrigated, and the combination of chemical application (through pesticides and fertilizers) with irrigation is a direct conduit for toxic chemicals to circulate in groundwater worldwide. Although O Ecotextiles uses organic cotton, we try to deemphasize its use because organic cotton is too thirsty a crop for most of the areas where it is grown. O Ecotextiles takes care to assure that the organic cotton we use comes from fields that enjoy natural rainfall sufficient to irrigate the crops. In this way, the desertification of vast areas of the globe - as in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan around the Aral Sea - does not result in environmental catastrophe. Control measures at various steps Sizing: At O Ecotextiles mills, no polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is used; the company requires its mills to use potato starch or carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) which is cellulose dissolved by an acid to become a liquid. It is used in food and is chemically inert and non-toxic and is allowed under Global Organic Textile Standard 2.3.5. Bleaching: Chlorine bleach is known to be extremely toxic to the environment and to consumers, yet chlorinebased chemicals are still often used to bleach fabrics. In O Ecotextiles mills, the bleaching method must be oxygen-based (hydrogen peroxide) and the wastewater is treated. In one mill, ozone, a very

new technology, is used for bleaching. This technology relies on cool water (rather than having to maintain the fabric in a hot water bath for many hours) and the ozone breaks down into water and oxygen. Dyeing: Many textile manufacturers use dyes that release aromatic amines (e.g., benzidine, toluidine). Dye bath effluents may contain heavy metals, ammonia, alkalai salts, toxic solids and large amounts of pigments - many of which are toxic. About 40 percent of globally used colorants contain organically bound chlorine, a known carcinogen. Natural dyes are rarely low-impact, depending on the specific dye and mordant used. Mordants (the substance used to "fix" the color onto the fabric) such as chromium are very toxic and high impact. The large quantities of natural dyestuffs required for dyeing, typically equal to or double that of the fibers own weight, make natural dyes prepared from wild plants and lichens very high impact. O Ecotextiles uses low-impact reactive dyes in a closed-loop system. While they are the lowestimpact fiber reactive dyes available, the dyes are by no means low impact. At best, about 80 percent of the dyestuffs stay on the fabric, while the rest go down the drain (although the water is contained and treated before returning to the ecosystem). O Ecotextiles dyes contain no heavy metals, so the dye house wastewater treatment yields pristine water. Finishing: O Ecotextiles does not apply functional finishes (such as flame retardants) to its fabrics. However, the company offers the applicationafter manufactureof certain flameretardants that have no VOCs, PBDEs, deca-BFRs or other hazardous chemicals. Rather than using harsh chemicals to soften and finish our fabrics, O Ecotextiles finish is made of bees wax, aloe vera and Vitamin A.

Best Practices: O Ecotextiles routinely reevaluates its environmental best practices and life cycle assessment in light of new developments. The company encourages dialogue among consumers about the implications of their textile choices, and is planning a textile blog where shared information can help sort out the complex issues surrounding sustainable textiles.