Cotton is the most used natural fiber in the textile industry.. It provides approximately one quarter of the world’s textile fibers, whose consumption has increased rapidly in recent years. fast fashion. However Growing and processing cotton has significant environmental impacts.By including I heavy water use, toxicity, eutrophication And greenhouse gas emissions.
How dirty is a pair of jeans or a shirt? An international research project investigated all this and looked for alternatives. Reduce the environmental footprint of clothing. The research, the results of which were published in the journal ‘Nature Reviews Earth & Environment’, determined the effects of cotton at different stages of its life cycle.
During cultivation stageEnvironmental impacts depend on irrigation levels and pesticide and fertilizer applications. Inside textile production stageImpacts depend on energy infrastructure and production technologies.
Inside usage phaseUltimately, the effects depend on the consumer’s purchasing, washing, drying and ironing habits.
“Depending on the impact category and country, growing, producing or using cotton may play a dominant role in impacts. For example, in countries with carbon-intensive energy networks such as the United States, the use phase dominates greenhouse gas emissions,” the study said. states.
Researchers emphasize that The use of alternative fibers has the potential to reduce these environmental impacts. They mainly refer to: jute And linenThey have much lower water demands than cotton.
Wash laundry less often
The study’s authors acknowledge that “further assessments of the sustainability of cotton are needed to fill data gaps regarding developing and developing countries, the number of uses of cotton clothing, and other environmental impacts such as the following.” saltingat the same time socioeconomic impacts“.
According to the researchers, goals to reduce cotton’s impact should include: Increasing water use efficiency in agricultureHE innovative recycling And washing textiles, especially clothes, less often“.
Environmental scientist Laura Scherer, coordinator of the international research project on the effects of cotton, underlines that the huge increase in textile consumption also increases its environmental impact.
Much of Scherer’s previous research focused on the environmental impacts of food. “But sustainable foods alone are not enough to achieve this goal. sustainability goals. “Not everyone can afford to install a heat pump, but everyone can decide what to eat, what to wear or how long to wear their clothes,” he emphasizes.
Scherer and his team looked at cotton to determine the environmental footprint of clothing and explore opportunities to reduce impacts. polyester It is mostly used in the textile market, but it is a synthetic fiber.
Growing cotton plants requires a lot of water.. Evaluating the sustainability of the fiber starts here. “Sometimes it’s easy for consumers to ignore production impacts because these impacts occur abroad. For example, consumer purchases in Europe can contribute to water shortages in China and India,” says Scherer.
Avoid ironing
Researchers from Leiden University in the Netherlands found that Americans have a habit of frequently washing and drying in the machine, which means “large amount of carbon“. In this case, the use phase may exceed the production phase in terms of its contribution to the carbon footprint of, say, a pair of jeans.
By contrast, in countries like Sweden, where energy is cleaner, “clothes are worn longer before being washed and air drying is more common, so the wearing phase contributes relatively little to the carbon footprint of jeans.” explains the researcher. advocate wash clothes less often, fill the washing machine at its maximum capacity and avoid ironing To reduce environmental impact.
The question is whether cotton should be avoided when buying your next pair of trousers. “We compare cotton with a variety of alternative fibres, both natural and synthetic, but it is difficult to decide whether these are better because studies generally consumer behavior. More research is needed,” admits Scherer.
Scherer’s proposed solution is “buy less overall“and promote it”Transition from fast fashion to slow fashion. Of course, this isn’t easy, he adds, because it requires “change in product design, marketing, and consumer behavior.”
“Clothing production may seem like a distant thing, but according to Scherer, we as consumers can make a significant change.”Buying fewer clothes and washing them less often is undoubtedly beneficial. “It even saves money,” he concludes.
Reference work: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-023-00476-z
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