Much of the discussion on ethical sourcing practices focuses on workers’ rights, but there’s plenty the fashion industry can do to cut water consumption and lessen pollution and have a big environmental and health impact.
“This industry uses a lot of water and it pollutes the water it uses,” said Linda Greer, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s health and environment program, in a presentation entitled “It’s Not Easy Being Green, The Environmental Impact of the Fashion Industry,” at the recent Sustainable Textiles Conference in New York.
“The chemicals that you guys use are dangerous,” said Greer, who has a PhD in environmental toxicology and described herself as a “pro on what kills you.”
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Luckily, she said many of the fixes are relatively easy, such as rearranging the dyeing schedule. Still, it can be hard to bring about change, since much of the room for improvement lies in the “wet process” in dying and finishing mills, a somewhat hard to reach part of the supply chain since many brands don’t know where their suppliers get their fabric.
Gary Graham, director of sustainability for apparel at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s namesake division, said during the question and answer session that to reduce water usage and pollution in its supply chain, the company had to enlist its vendor for help when it approached dyeing mills. He stressed the importance of “making sure you don’t go down this road alone.”
To reduce water pollution, Greer said the dying and finishing mills could set up an appropriate water treatment plant, use less-toxic chemicals and reuse and recycle water. Mills can also operate more efficiently by simply dyeing a fabric the right color the first time.
“If you go from light to dark to light, then you’ve got to wash everything out,” Greer said.
Mills can also reduce water and energy consumption by fixing leaks, only cooling water when it needs to be cooled, insulating steam values and flanges, optimizing boiler pressure and recovering heat from smoke stacks. In addition to cutting back on water usage and harmful chemicals, Greer said simple fixes could also lead to big savings.