| Life Cycle Analysis in Garment Production | Denmark | - | Full scale |
MISCELLANEOUS CASE # 3
Background:
Novotex A S is a textile company that was founded in 1983 with nine employee shareholders. The company now has 100 people employed directly and another 100 in closely related companies. Its turnover is approximately US$18million.
Novotex's philosophy is to produce cotton with the least possible impact on the environment, by minimizing emissions, through energy conservation and waste minimization. This approach is followed for all the stages of cotton processing, from growing of cotton to recycling of unwanted garments.
Novotex uses two approaches in all the stages of garment production. It has attempted to put a measure on the term environmentally friendly by means of an 'environmental value' for products for which a scale of 0 to 100 has been developed. An unattainable green product would be 100 and nuclear weapons could be thought of as 0. This principle has been applied to the stages of spinning, knitting, dyeing, finishing, garment production, packaging and transport.
The company also carries out a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of each stage of production. In this analysis the environmental aspects of every operation are examined in detail from the beginning to the end - 'from the cradle to the grave'. These two overlapping philosophies are frequently re-examined so that continuous improvements may be made.
The present case study illustrates the application of CP principles in the life cycle of cotton garment production by Novotex.
Cleaner Production Principle:
Process modification; Material substitution; Recovery, reuse and recycle.
Cleaner Production Application:
The cleaner production principles applied by the company commences with ensuring that all the cotton they process is organically grown. This means growing without artificial fertilizers, chemical pesticides and defoliant sprays. Apart from the more obvious advantages, the health of the cotton pickers can be severely affected by use of these chemicals.
Company policy demands that all of the cotton used by Novotex is hand-picked to avoid defoliants and it should not contain pesticide residues. The percentage of cotton grown organically has increased from 1-10% from the period when the company started. This figure is expected to increase with increase in awareness of consumers around the world. In order that the term organic cotton is understood, the cotton is grown according to the ECO-labeling standards required for organic food production. The cotton is grown in various countries including Turkey, Peru, Morocco and Greece. New methods are allowing these principles to be applied. Vegetable compost and manure can supply the soil with sufficient nitrogen needs and organic materials.
Spinning and knitting is usually accompanied by large volumes of dust. The cotton is spun on advanced computer controlled machines that need greater control of an otherwise dusty atmosphere. Only water-soluble dyes are used and chloride for bleaching is eliminated by using hydrogen peroxide. The dyeing process is carried out in fully enclosed high - pressure jet machines with reduced water consumption and no air pollution. In the drying process mechanical finishing is carried out, eliminating the use of chemicals, e.g. formaldehyde, resulting in an improved material quality. The making up of cotton garments is also a dusty operation and is carried out with dust extraction at the cutting and sewing machines.
All wastewater is purified in a neighboring treatment plant. Most of the dye and phosphorus is removed by chemical precipitation with lime and iron salts. Biological purification is carried out in 14m high towers using the activated sludge process. The water is then passed through sand filters and aerated before discharge.
When users dispose a garment the company encourages that they consider its potential for recycling either for continued reuse by others or for conventional recycling to another use.
Environmental and Economic Benefits:
Organic methods of cotton cultivation produce healthy plants without polluting the soil and the surrounding environment. Improved environment for workers at all stages. The environmental impact of each stage of production has been minimized.
As might be imagined it is difficult to quantify all the benefits. The water consumption is reduced, with all of the cooling water being recycled. The dyeing processes now use only 50% of the original water consumption, the new cleaning processes use only one-third of the original heated cleaning water, and the drying machines recycle 75% of the hot air used. The liquid effluent from the plant carries only a small fraction of the toxic material limits set by the water authority.
Constraints:
N/A
Contacts:
Review Status:
This case study was originally published in the UNEP IE document "Cleaner Production Worldwide". In the process of preparing the document the case study underwent a technical review. Subsequently the case study has undergone another technical review by Dr Prasad Modak at Environmental Management Centre, Mumbai, India, in September 1998.
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