Water%20Use%20in%20Textiles

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Water Use in Textiles

• Phil Patterson
• Managing Director, Colour Connections Consultancy
  ltd

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The Rime of the Modern Clothier

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

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Industrial Use

• 100 150 l/kg
• Scouring
• Dyeing
• Washing
• Heating!
• Cooling!
• (dont forget fibre)

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Domestic Laundry

• 10 15 l/kg/wash
• Washing
• Rinsing

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.......not just water

• Energy to heat it
• Chemicals in it
• Pollution

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Industry

• Use high temperatures
• Inefficient
• Indirect heating
• Boiler makes steam
• Steam shipped to machines
• Heat exchanger
• Whats insulation?
• Water used for cooling
• Often no effluent treatment

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Domestic

• Uses lower temperatures
• Low chemical usage
• Direct heating
• Water heated in machine
• Or from insulated hot water source
• Always to an ETP

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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!

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Durability means Sustainability

• Factor in cotton growing

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Is water used or borrowed?

• Some always used
• (evaporation)
• Its never put back in form it was taken
• Water-recycling massively under-utilised

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Fashion Crime
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Number 1 Fashion Crime

• Pollution
• Most pollution is where water is plentiful
• India
• Bangladesh
• China

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Actions

• Shift focus to textile production
• Priority
• Traceability
• Compliance with environmental laws
• Reduction in needless textile consumption
• Reduction in water consumption

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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

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Compliance

• Who?
• Retailers?
• Makes them higher cost
• Governments?
• Short term damage to economy

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Textile Consumption

• Lower volumes
• Higher value
• Prices to reflect true cost
• Taxes based on volumes bought/sold?

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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

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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