Sustainable Practices in Textile Industry: Standards and Certificates

Abstract

“Sustainability is achieved when all people on Earth can live well without compromising the quality of life for future generations”—Rolf Jucker, “A Vision for a Sustainable University”. To sustain is to strengthen or in other words is to support or to make comfortable. Every human has his own choices or preferences and would like to lead a comfortable life. But this comfort should not be achieved at the cost of other’s discomfort or sufferings. The concept of sustainable development insists on conservation of resources for the future generations. Nature, earth, biodiversity, and ecosystems need to be sustained for harmonious life at the present as well as the future. Textile Industry is a fast growing industry in the twenty-first century both in terms of production volume and employment, and hence, the industry’s impact is huge on the society, economy, and environment. Also, textile industry is a thirsty industry with huge consumer of water, a resource that is becoming scarce day by day. The textile industry is indicted to be one among the most polluting industries, and hence, it becomes mandatory to adopt sustainable practices in order to conserve the Mother Nature. At present, most of the industry practices are modified or transformed in order to achieve sustainability, and for these, standards are indispensable. Sustainable practices in textile industry include using less amounts of water, hazardous chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers; adopting eco-friendly production processes; using less energy for production processes; and introducing 3 Rs—Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Society is also gaining awareness on green consumerism and looking for ecoproducts. Sustainability standards and certificates are concerned with the safety of the consumer, the manufacturer, the society, and the environment at large. The standards are developed after cautious research, and certificates are issued up on proper implementation of these standards. This chapter gives an overview of various standards applicable to the textile industry; certification of textile products; the way the standards lead the industry towards sustainability; the elements of sustainable development, and so on.