Environmental Project, 903 – Environmental Impact from Bed Linen in the production Chain

Environmental Impact from Bed Linen in the Production Chain

Summary and conclusions

A survey of bed linen products (quilt covers and pillow cases) on the Danish market has been carried out with the aim of investigating whether the products comply with the criteria of the EU eco-label (the Flower). Quality aspects of the same products have been investigated by the Danish Consumers Information Centre.

Only 1 of 19 products was in compliance with the criteria, and this particular product already was equipped with the Flower label.

Many of the other products might be in compliance with the criteria but in general there is a lack of documentation regarding

the consumption of pesticides during cotton growing (10 out of 15)
chemicals used (12 out of 15)
waste water discharge (7 out of 15)

to assess whether the criteria are met or not.

Several of the products might be able to obtain the Flower label, if documentation can be provided regarding pesticide consumption during cotton growing, or if the producer switches to a new cotton supplier having such documentation. It might also be necessary to substitute one or more of the chemicals used during wet processing, and documentation regarding waste water conditions must be established, maybe supplemented by an improvement of the waste water treatment.

Further general observations and conclusions regarding the products in question can be mentioned:

chemicals are not used in the spinning of cotton yarn for this kind of products
bleaching by means of chlorinated products has ceased. All investigated products were bleached with hydrogen peroxide
biocides or biostatic products are not used
plastisol-based printing is not used
flame retardants are not used in the products.