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Cleaner Technology Projects in Denmark 1997
Environmental Assessment og Textiles
Miljørapport nr. 369, 1997, Miljøstyrelsen
Within the entire textile and clothing industry
there exists an increasing interest for taking environmental care into account when
producing textile products. This is a result of the increasing demand for products, for
which it can be documented that the most relevant environmental and health issues have
been considered.
This report presents a scientifically documented tool, which can be of use for the
textile and clothing industry when working seriously and structured with the environmental
and health issues for the selected fibres and textile products.
Based on a life cycle screening the report presents the environmental key features for
the production of textile products made of cotton, wool, viscose, polyester or acrylic fibres. In addition recommendations for
good environmental practice in every step of the life cycle of the textiles are presented.
The recommendations are primarily based on the evaluation of the environmental and health
impacts during the life cycle of the textiles, and secondarily on an evaluation of
criteria and recommendations for textiles listed in other relevant papers.
The fibres analysed in this report are primarily selected because the fibres together
dominate the market for textile apparel products and are often used to produce the same
kind of products either pure or in blends.
The study covers single-layer textile products made of the five types of fibres.
Carpets are not covered by the work. However, several of the textile processes described
and assessed in the study are used to produce many different kinds of textile products.
Therefore the results can be broadly utilised.
The report is structured in the following chapters:
Chapter 1 gives an introduction to the project. The methodology used in the project is
described shortly including limitations, data sources and considerations concerning choice
of functional unit.
The environmental parameters for the five selected fibres vary according to different
processes and substances utilised both in pre-production and production of the textile
products. However, differences do not only concern the environmental parameters. The
properties of the fibres make environmental assessment of textile products rather complex
as the properties do have essential impact on the maintenance and durability of the
products concerned. Therefore a brief introduction to the variation in technical
properties of the selected fibres is given in chapter 2.
Chapter 3 covers the description from extraction of raw materials to the fibres ready
for further processing. The extraction of raw materials for the 5 selected fibres differs
basically as the origin of the fibres are either animals (wool), plants (cotton and viscose) or fossil fuels (polyester and acrylic fibres). In
addition, the production of cotton and wool can also be based on organic principles.
Assessments of the environmental and health impacts of different processes are presented.
Chapter 4 describes the many different processes that transform the fibres to textile
products. The processes most commonly used are described and the accessible environmental
input and output data are listed as are environmental and health impacts of the different
processes.
In Chapter 5 the environmental impact of the user’s phase is discussed. In
addition, a short description of the reutilization, recycling and disposal of textiles is
presented.
In chapter 6 the environmental key features for every step in the life cycles of the
selected textiles are summarised. Moreover, recommendations for good environmental
practice are listed.
Within the processes utilised for the production of the fibres and the textiles several
chemical substances are used. Because it has been particularly difficult to get data on
environment and health for the production of the man-made fibres (viscose, polyester and
acrylic fibres) a screening of some of the substances utilised in the production of the
fibres has been made. For substances of which relevant data were available an
environmental and health assessment has been performed. Since the analysis has been based
on a screening of substances and on the basis of available data it is by no means a
complete result of the potential effects of the chemicals in use. The results of the
assessments are presented in Annex A and summaries are given for the relevant fibres in
chapter 3.
Author/ institution
Søren Ellebaek Laursen and John Hansen, DTI Clothing and Textiles
John Bagh, Ole K. Jensen and Inge Werther, dk-TEKNIK
Department of Environmental Impact Assessment
This report is subsidised by the National Council for Recycling and Cleaner Production
ISSN no. 0105-3094
ISBN no. 87-7810-838-1
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