Renere teknologi i tekstil- og beklædningsindustrien SummaryCleaner technology in textile industry Prevention of the environmental problems at the source is a basic principle in the Danish environmental policy. In the textile industry, 30 cleaner technology projects have been funded from the Cleaner Technology Programme with a little over 30 Million Danish Kr. in the period from 1990 to the end of 1997. Most of these projects have focused on the development of cleaner production technologies in textile dyeing companies; but at the same time some overall projects have contributed to a further development of the concept of cleaner technology. Changes in the concept of cleaner technology The concept of cleaner technology in textile industry has gradually changed during the process, and has followed a rather "classical" path which can also be found in other industrial sectors:
Environmental survey The first projects were general surveys of where the environmental impacts occur in the textile industry and an outline of ideas and proposals for solutions. These surveys pointed out textile dyeing as the primary area of interest in order to concentrate the efforts on environmental problems occurring in Denmark. Demonstration and development projects In the beginning of the 1990s the technical demonstration and development project began combined with a more detailed survey of the dyeing industries. These efforts were further strengthened in 1993 to 94 with the implementation of the "Frame-programme for Cleaner Technology in the Textile Industry" with focus on development and optimisation of processes and machines in relation to textile dyeing and printing. The budget of the programme was 10 Million Danish Kr. Up till the end of 1997 more than 16 Million Danish Kr. were spent. A steering committee was formed at this time including all main interested parties with knowledge on textile dyeing and printing. General projects The focus on cleaner production in textile dyeing has characterised the efforts until today. However, from the mid 1990s several general projects have been carried out with relevance for the whole textile industry. Two projects were on environmental management systems and several others were product-related. However, there has not been a common idea and strategy behind the product-oriented efforts as in the case of textile dyeing, but the project on supply chain management, for example, has contributed to develop the cleaner technology concept. Consensus and a close collaboration A high degree of consensus and a close collaboration have been achieved among the involved parties regarding cleaner technology. This has had a positive impact on the general environmental activities in the textile industry, e.g. the development of a chemical evaluation system, the work with a industry orientation on cleaner technology, the implementation of environmental management in several companies, and the Danish proposal for criteria to Eco-labelling of textiles. The main actors in the cleaner technology projects have been the business organisation Danish Textile, the consultants from DTI and IPU, and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency; and secondarily companies, the trade union, municipalities, a county as well as a few more consultants. Results From good housekeeping to new technologies Several cleaner technologies have been developed in textile dyeing including quite simple changes in processes or in working procedures as well as new colouring machines and equipment for handling and recycling of process water. The focused efforts and strategy with 13 cleaner technology projects in this area have contributed to implement "good environmental housekeeping" related to substitution of chemicals, techniques to reduce the use of chemicals, energy control and management, water savings, etc., in textile dyeing companies. Reduced resource consumption Cleaner technology in textile dyeing has furthermore led to a comprehensive concept for the reduction of environmental impacts and has in demonstration projects shown a way to develop a "wastewater-free" dyeing industry. In the short run considerable reductions in the use of resources have been implemented, and in the long run full-scale tests in the Dantex project have shown a huge potential for 90% reduction in water use and 70% reduction in energy use and related emissions. Textile dyeing However, membrane filtration and recycling of wastewater will demand a "technological jump" and large investments of the dyeing companies. The survey of the diffusion of cleaner technologies in textile dyeing and printing has shown that "good housekeeping" with immediate economic savings are quite well-known in the textile industry, while the overall technologies for handling and recycling of waste water have not been implemented - yet. Textile printing I relation to textile printing four cleaner technology projects have contributed to reduce energy consumption, waste as well as the use of organic solvents and PVC. One substitution project has been funded at a knitting manufactory. Product-oriented projects Some of the product-oriented projects have developed new tools and approaches to cleaner technology with relevance for other industrial sectors e.g. projects on a logbook for cotton and on supply chain management. On the other hand the UMIP-TEX project is an example on how experiences with life cycle assessment in other industrial sectors can be used in the textile industry. The product-oriented projects have been very different and have nearly all been surveys, which make it difficult to analyse the results. Only the project about "washable textile for men's suits" has resulted in a product-development, but this was not continued into production. Frontrunners Several frontrunner companies in the textile industry have implemented cleaner technologies and environmental management systems, and these companies can be expected to be interested in taking one further step to a product-oriented environmental effort. However, the main part of the companies still need to implement more systematic environmental activities including more than immediate optimisation of resource consumption. Incentives To the frontrunner companies the incentive to develop environmental-friendly textiles is clearly to get a competitive advantage on the market. The other textile companies need properly before that to establish systematic, preventive activities, and the incentives to this must come from green taxes, environmental regulation, dissemination of information, etc. In other words there is still a task in diffusing cleaner technology and environmental management to all the companies in the textile industry. Textile industry and the environment It is worth noticing that the most polluting part of the textile industry has not moved to other countries with less demanding environmental standards, however this has the work-intensive part. The Danish environmental regulation has in other words not been a barrier to e.g. the dyeing industry, but has oppositely initiated a continuous optimisation of the production process. The textile industry has been predicted a soon ending in Denmark in several decades, but the reality has been an increased turnover even though the employment has fallen considerably. The reason for this is among other things that the companies have had a high adaptation capability and have been competent in coping with the collaboration with suppliers, to catch new trends and to incorporate new market demands in the product development. Challenges The challenge to the environmental efforts is to take advantage of these characteristics in relation to both the "front-runners" and the rest of the companies in the textile industry. Recommendations From cradle to grave The product-oriented environmental policy and the creation of a product panel for textile has now put more focus the environmental impacts from textiles from cradle to grave and on the active involvement of a broader group of actors. This evaluation has given an overview of the cleaner technology activities up till now for inspiration in the product-oriented environmental efforts in the textile industry. The evaluation has some rather detailed conclusions, which are describing the strengths and weakness of the cleaner technology projects so far. Cleaner textiles and more involved actors The change from cleaner production to cleaner products and the expansion of the actors involved is an irreversible process. But at the same time it is also necessary to continue the existing activities to secure a broader diffusion. Over 15 Million Kr. has been invested in projects regarding the use of water, chemicals and energy in textile dyeing. Therefore, Danish EPA and other involved parties ought to assess how the diffusion of these technologies can be secured via increased information activities, initiation of economic investments in cleaner technologies and/or via environmental regulation. Recommendations Furthermore, the following recommendations are important based on the experiences from the cleaner technology projects in textile industry up till now:
The projects must be "owned" by the companies in stead of the consultants, so the companies are not reduced to suppliers of data and so the project results find practical application faster. Network-groups, ERFA-teams, etc. can secure the exchange of experiences among companies along the way as well as integrate new knowledge with practical use in the single company. In stead of making a development project and afterwards disseminating the results to the rest of the industry, then process and product development must be seen as a distributed process involving many different actors. It is reasonable to conclude: The more actors participating in dialogue and collaboration in the development projects, the more will dissemination and diffusion be secured during the project. It is necessary to have different tools in the toolbox, so companies can choose the tool fitting to their preconditions and ambitions. Furthermore, this flexibility can secure that the single company easily can adapt approaches and tools to own ideas and needs. Projects regarding good housekeeping with immediate results can motivate the companies for further investments in cleaner technologies. Therefore, an appropriate balance between the short and the long perspective can secure that the companies continuously are interested in making investments in new cleaner technologies. Which type of documentation is in fact necessary in order to motivate companies? In stead of extensive scientific documentation it is more likely practical experiences from daily use that is convincing at least in the textile industry. The same is properly true regarding product-oriented efforts: a full life cycle assessment is especially needed if the company want to praise the products environmental performance in advertisements. In most other cases the companies can make several environmental improvements of the product based on the life cycle concept and an overview of important environmental impacts. The efforts up till now with focus on cleaner production have been dominated of engineers and people from production. A product-oriented environmental effort will demand that designers; trend analysers; detailer shops; consumers; educational institutions, environmental groups, etc. have the opportunity to participate much more actively.
|