The Swiss specialty chemicals group Clariant 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 believes that it can help its customers to 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 six million tons 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 one million tons of textiles ending up in landfills every year.
In addition, 20 percent 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 percent 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," said Emrah Esder, Head of Marketing, Textile Chemicals, Clariant.
"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."
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 Sign®1,OekoTex®2, GOTS3, the 11 substances of the Joint Roadmap towards Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals, bioelimination and 20 major Restricted Substances List (RSLs).
Today, the Clariant ONE WAY product database already includes more than 200 products, covering most of the needs of the industry across the value chain. This database will be accessible anytime, anywhere, by the 20-strong ONE WAY specialist team, who will be located around the world and comprise of product stewardship experts.
