The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published two briefings that highlight measures to reduce the industry’s impact on the environment. As per Recyling Magazine report, the measures include curbing resource use, greenhouse gas emissions and microplastic pollution. The first of this briefing is titled ‘Textiles and the environment’ It provides updated estimates of textiles life-cycle impact on the environment and climate.

The briefing shows, textiles caused the third highest pressures on water and land use, and the fifth highest use of raw materials and greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. The industry required 9 cubic meters of water, 400 sq. mt. of land, 391 kg of raw materials, and caused a carbon footprint of about 270 kg per person during the year.

The briefing also looks at the ways circular business models and design can reduce the negative impacts from textile production and consumption by retaining the value of textiles, extending their life cycles and increasing the usage of recycled materials. It says, optimizing resource use and reducing emissions at production stage would also mitigate negative impacts as would better collection, reuse and recycling of discarded textiles.

The second EEA briefing ‘Microplastics from textiles: towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe’ looks at this specific type of pollution, highlighting three key prevention measures: sustainable design and production, controlling emissions during use and improved end-of-life processing.

The EEA briefing states, pollution can be reduced by using alternative production processes and pre-washing of garments at manufacturing sites with proper filtering of wastewater. The industry can also adopt other measures integrating filters into household washing machines, developing milder detergents, and generally taking better care of garment, to curb pollution, it says. Environment and climate impacts of textiles