The textiles industry includes fiber production (natural and synthetic), raw weaving, dyeing, finishing, and printing, and final cutting into garments, carpets, fabrics, etc. Natural fibers include animal wools and cellulose products such as cotton and flax. Synthetic fibers include rayon, nylon, acrylic, polyurethane and others. The guidance for production of synthetic fibers is covered in the Synthetic Resins and Fibers document. Many textiles are printed with patterns and colors. The Printing document has useful guidance for this process. The primary environmental aspects of the textiles industry involve water use and wastewater discharge from washing, chemical use in dyeing and finishing, and management of scrap and solid waste.

There are many low-cost improvements possible at every stage in the textile production life cycle. The industry has many resources for cleaner production. The trade associations are active in environmental issues and training. Many case studies and technical guides are available on line. Primary solutions include process measurement and control, water recycling, chemical substitution and reduction, energy efficiency, and new product development using waste materials.

The table below lists solutions to reduce waste and pollution in textiles. Company environmental programs should demonstrate that these options have been considered thoroughly. Direct links to online guides to textiles pollution prevention follow the table.

Source: Pollution Prevention Tips for Wet-Processing Textile Mills. Georgia Pollution Prevention Assistance Division.

http://www.dnr.state.ga.us/dnr/p2ad/pblcations/textile.html

http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/essd/essd.nsf/GlobalView/PPAH/$File/81_text.pdf

An Industry Overview of Textile Manufacturing is a short fact sheet about hazardous waste generated from the industry.

Cotton Fiber Processing Waste is a short fact sheet describing options for responsible management of cotton fiber waste.

Pollution Prevention Guidebooks--Textile Industry is a tip sheet on pollution prevention strategies for the textile industry.

Pollution Prevention Tips for Wet-Processing Textile Mills is a short fact sheet of methods to reduce water use, pollution, and cost for textile mills, including a pollution prevention checklist.

Water Conservation for Textile Mills gives short descriptions of many options.

Chemistry & Technology of Fabric Preparation & Finishing is an entire primary reference book on this topic.

Clean Technologies in U.S. Industries: Focus on Textiles describes a range of technologies for reducing waste and pollution.

Textile Industry--Doing What it Takes to be WasteWi$e describes solid waste reduction achievements of US EPA WasteWi$e partners in the textiles industry. Topics include waste prevention, recycling collection, and buying or manufacturing recycled products.

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/wstewise/id-texti.htm

Best Management Practices for Pollution Prevention in the Textile Industry presents an overview of the U.S. textile industry describing production processes, the technological base, waste and pollution, pollution prevention options and case studies. PDF format.

Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis of a Manufacturerd Apparel Product presents a life cycle analysis of a woman’s blouse, from original raw materials to disposal.

http://www.fibersource.com/f-tutor/LCA-Page.htm

EPA Profile of the Textiles Industry is a major and primary report covering multi-media issues, industrial process, pollution outputs, TRI data, pollution prevention, federal regulations, compliance history, compliance assistance, and voluntary programs.

Identification and Reduction of Toxic Pollutants in Textile Mill Effluents is a major report with detailed solutions for chemical use reduction and control.

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/01/00166.pdf

Color Reduction and Removal Seminar presents case studies and descriptions of color removal technologies.

The Future of Pollution Prevention: An Alternative to Costly Waste Treatment is an extensive report describing many P2 options for the textile industry.

Source Reduction of Chlorinated Solvents in the Textiles Industry describes detailed methods for reducing chemical use.

Pollution Prevention Studies in the Textile Wet Processing Industry describes detailed results of P2 projects from four industry case studies.

Textile Printing describes several technology options for reducing pollution from this process

The UK Envirowise Program offers these documents available on line, after registering for free:

Over twenty case studies compiled by the UNEP

The Envirosense Case Studies collection search engine finds 82 case studies available.

Australia’s environment program makes five textile case studies available.

The UNEP Cleaner Production Textile Working Group pools the Cleaner Production (CP) related resources; provides technical assistance, guidance and counseling; undertakes CP related projects and uses internet technology for a wider dissemination of the results. It offers detailed data on resource use benchmarks, emission standards, case studies, and information on eco-labels and codes of conduct.

Waste Minimization In Textiles is a major collection of articles, case studies, and reports from the North Carolina Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources.

Oeko-Tex is a European project to test textiles for harmful chemicals and to provide certification for textile products that pass its criteria. Many institutions are now participating.

The Electric Power Research Institute has a Fiber, Apparel, Carpet, & Textile Office that assists the industry with energy conservation.

The Textiles and Leather Recycling Section of Recycler’s World has extensive information about recycling companies for all kinds of textile waste.

The Secondary Materials and Recycled Textile Association represents companies that recycle industrial and post-consumer textile waste into new products.

The Textile Fiber and By-Products Association promotes the interest of dealers and processors in the textile by-products business, from manufacturers to importers / exporters.

Textile Resource Conservation is a project to promote energy and environmental efficiency in the industry.

American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists is a technical and scientific society devoted to the advancement of textile chemistry.

The American Textile Manufacturers Institute is the national trade association for manufacturers of textile mill products made in the United States.

The American Textile Partnership is a university consortium working in several advanced technology areas.

British Textile Technology Group has extensive technical and market resources.

British Textile Machinery Association has several directories, all searchable, for products, services and companies in the textile machinery industry

International Textile and Apparel Association is a global organization of textile and apparel scholars.

The National Textile Center is a university research consortium on many aspects of textile technology, including environmentally friendly practices and materials.

Natural Fibers Information Center is an information clearinghouse on the natural fibers, oilseeds, and related industries.

The Open Directory Project for Textiles and NonWovens has over three thousand categorized links.

The Roger Milliken Textile Library Catalog has an extensive reference collection that can be searched or browsed. A search for "waste" found 205 citations.

TextileWeb is dedicated to promoting the goods and services of the Textile Industry via the Internet

The Textile Institute is the worldwide professional association for people working with fibres and fabrics clothing and footwear, interior and technical textiles.

Textile Technology Sources from the University of Georgia is a good listing of many references.