ECO SPECIAL.. Clariant’s new tool helps textile mills and brands to measure sustainability

ECO SPECIAL.. Clariant’s new tool helps textile mills and brands to measure sustainability

The Swiss specialty chemicals group Clariant has announced the introduction of a new service called ‘One Way’ that helps textile mills, brands and retailers measure the impact of their textile solutions on the environment, resource and climate. Clariant said it will help its customers develop textile solutions that are both more ecologically and economically sustainable by providing a fast, measurable and reliable approach to the selection of chemical products and process solutions.
According to Textile Exchange, an estimated 6-mn tonnes of textile chemicals is used each year, making the environmental impact of textile processing a global issue. Textile waste occupies nearly five per cent of all landfill space, with 1-mn tons of textiles ending up in landfills every year. In addition, 20 per cent of industrial fresh water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing; and one trillion kilowatt hours are used every year by the global textile industry, which equates to 10 per cent of global carbon impact.
"With increasing consumer awareness of these issues, brands and retailers today are under growing pressure to set and enforce sustainability policies, as well as monitor and measure the environmental impact of their textile dyeing and finishing processes. "However, a long-time headache has been the difficulty of measuring the overall ecological impact of any textile process. Clariant’s ‘One Way’ will address this gap by providing fast and reliable information on the economical and ecological impact of each textile solution," said Mr. Emrah Esder, Head of Marketing, Textile Chemicals, Clariant. Clariant’s ‘One Way’ will offer mills, brands and retailers a systematic methodology based on a three-step process:
Step 1: Product selection based on eco-standards requirements
Customers will benefit from a wide range of Clariant ‘One Way’ products, developed and pre-tested by the company against more than 15 of the industry’s most stringent environmental and consumer safety standards including ‘Blue Sign1’,’OekoTex2’, ‘GOTS3’, the 11 substances of the Joint Roadmap towards Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals, bioelimination and 20 major Restricted Substances List (RSLs). The Clariant ‘One Way’ product database already includes more than 200 products, covering most of the needs of the industry across the value chain.
Step 2: Process short-listing based on environmental focus
With Clariant’s ‘One Way’, dyes and chemicals have been screened and clustered into groups based on their environmental focus. This will allow textile manufacturers to narrow their selection of potential products to the process group that best fits their environmental focus.
Step 3: Solution selection based on cost & eco-benefits calculations
A sophisticated calculation software tool, which will be the cornerstone of the ‘One Way’ toolbox, is currently in final testing phase and will be available by January 2013. This calculation tool will allow customers to make an informed decision by delivering the overall cost and performance profile – including dyes, chemicals, water, energy and time – and the impact of each textile solution against key ecological performance indicators, such as chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand, CO2 emissions, energy and water.
CHEMICAL WEEKLY OCTOBER 23, 2012