Dye Me A River: Textiles & Water Pollution (Pt. 2)

Hey everyone, this post is a continuation from 'Dye Me A River: Textiles & Water Pollution (Pt. 1)'. If you would like to check it out, do click here.

(Source: https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/environmental-impacts)

So far, we’ve learnt that the processes of textile production release harmful chemicals that pollute our waters. For example, each year, the textile industry discharges roughly 40,000 - 50,000 tons of dye (Mukherjee. 2015). To save costs, many factories turn to convenient modes of disposal by dumping these chemical-laden water into our rivers. In cutting costs and time, our environment is greatly jeopardised instead.

But it isn’t exactly right to only point fingers at textile producers for issues of water pollution, consumers are major culprits as well! Scientists have discovered that many small aquatic organisms ingest microfibres that are washed off our synthetic garments such as those made of polyester or nylon (Meenaxi and Sudha, 2012). These microfibres kill about 100,000 marine animals each year, contributing to large biodiversity loss and maritime pollution.

Alternatives such as using organic materials to synthesise clothing can greatly reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans. However, these materials are less cost-effective and thus less appealing to be adopted by profit-driven businesses. Buyers are also less keen to purchase environmentally friendly apparel as they tend to cost much more.

Therefore, it is not to say that solutions for water pollution are not present. To give another example, Adane et al. (2021) suggest that if textile industries use effluent treatment plants (ETP) to purify used chemicals before dumping them into the river, problems of water pollution could be solved. However, similarly, treatment of these waters often ends up being overshadowed by the need to increase revenue and efficiency of production (Holkar et al., 2016)

As such, our issues with water pollution is not the lack of solutions but rather, it is a matter of choices and priorities set by US — global producers AND consumers.

A Wider Implication

To navigate around issues of pollution caused by the textile industry as a whole, we need to look beyond the causes, impacts and solutions. As the industry serves a substantial role in many economies, changing the methods and dynamics of the industry would inevitably lead to issues that intertwine with the social, economic and the political. Abudus Salam perfectly embodies this sentiment: even as he reminisces about clean rivers from past times, he also sees the reality that the industry contributes jobs to many residents of Bangladesh.

Indeed, as we continue to find more avenues for sustainable production of fashion, it is important to consider how such solutions may impact the various parties involved in both consumption and production.

COMING UP

Thus far, we have focused largely on understanding the pollution caused by the production processes of the fashion industries. However, just by understanding simple laws of demand and supply, we cannot only attribute these problems to that of production companies. Next up, we will learn more in-depthly on how consumers contribute to environmental pollution by mass-consumption of fashion products.

Cheers,

Hui Jie

References

Adane, T., Adugna, A. T., & Alemayehu, E. (2021). Textile industry effluent treatment techniques. Journal of Chemistry, 2021.

Holkar, C. R., Jadhav, A. J., Pinjari, D. V., Mahamuni, N. M., & Pandit, A. B. (2016). A critical review on textile wastewater treatments: possible approaches. Journal of environmental management, 182, 351-366.

Meenaxi, T., & Sudha, B. (2012). Causes of musculoskeletal disorder in textile industry. Int Res J Soc Sci, 1(4), 48-50.

Mukherjee, S. (2015). Environmental and social impact of fashion: Towards an eco-friendly, ethical fashion. International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(3), 22-35.

Regan, H. (2020, 29 September). Asian rivers are turning black, and our colorful closets are to blame.CNN. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/dyeing-pollution-fashion-intl-hnk-dst-sept/index.html

Thomas, L. (n.d.). Why is sustainable fashion so expensive?. The Good Trade. Retrieved from https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/why-is-sustainable-fashion-expensive.