Water Use in Textiles

www.colour-connections.com

Water Use in Textiles

Phil PattersonManaging Director, Colour Connections

Consultancy ltd


The Rime of the Modern Clothier

Water, water, everywhere, And all the brains did shrink,Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink


Industrial Use

• ~100 – 150 l/kg

• Scouring• Dyeing• Washing• Heating!• Cooling!• (don’t forget fibre)


Domestic Laundry

• ~10 – 15 l/kg/wash

• Washing• Rinsing


.......not just water

• Energy to heat it• Chemicals in it• Pollution


Industry• Use high temperatures• Inefficient• Indirect heating– Boiler makes steam– Steam shipped to machines– Heat exchanger

• What’s insulation?• Water used for cooling• Often no effluent treatment


Domestic

• Uses lower temperatures

• Low chemical usage• Direct heating– Water heated in

machine

• Or from insulated hot water source

• Always to an ETP


Durability means Sustainability

• 150 l/kg per kg to produce

• (20,150 l/kg for cotton)• 15 l/kg per kg to wash• Items washed 10 times

or less have bigger production impact!


Durability means Sustainability

• Factor in cotton growing


Is water used or ‘borrowed’?

• Some always used– (evaporation)

• It’s never put back in form it was taken

• Water-recycling massively under-utilised


Fashion Crime


Number 1 Fashion Crime

•Pollution• Most pollution is where

water is plentiful– India– Bangladesh– China


Actions

• Shift focus to textile production• Priority

1. Traceability2. Compliance with environmental laws3. Reduction in needless textile consumption4. Reduction in water consumption


Traceability – The foundation of everything

• How to achieve it– Legislation?– Shame, Pressure?– Brand co-operation?– Fashion media

• Everyone fears traceability– “commercial sensitivities”– Fear of what will be found


Compliance

• Who?– Retailers?• Makes them higher cost

– Governments?• Short term damage to economy


Textile Consumption

• Lower volumes• Higher value• Prices to reflect true

cost• Taxes based on volumes

bought/sold?


Reducing Water Consumption

• Evolution or revolution?– Right first time– Best available technology – Re-cycling – Liquid carbon dioxide– Marginalisation of cotton (Kyoto style targets)– Product labelling based on facts not hype

http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=289991


Summary

• Water ‘use’ is not always an issue• Pollution is the major issue• Energy use associated with water use is a

major issue• Focus on industry not domestic• Best practice could halve water consumption

in dyeing

Water Use in Textiles

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